Heroes
by Jeralee
Summary: Having outlived many of his allies and even his own family, Raiden chooses to withdraw from military service. Many years later, he wakes up in a post-apocalyptic future that is dominated by cyborgs. Recruited by the dwindling human populace, he finds himself fighting a new kind of war. Slight RaidenOC. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

I thought about Metal Gear the other day although I haven't played the 4th in years, and hadn't had the time to pick up Metal Gear Rising, but I was thinking about Raiden being a cyborg and all and thinking if he was able to age. I can't actually remember if this was ever addressed but I quickly had a plot bunny so this happened. I am so sorry for any mistakes/errors considering I haven't played MGS for years and honestly do not remember a lot so I might not refer to MGS much. It's a very Terminator-ish storyline considering that it's set in the future where cyborg technology have almost completely taken over and humans are on the brink of extinction.

Disclaimer: Don't own Metal Gear

Summary: Having outlived many of his allies and even his own family, Raiden chooses to withdraw from military service and be 'deactivated'. Years later, he wakes up in a dystopian future that is dominated by cyborgs. Recruited by the dwindling human populace, he finds himself fighting a new kind of war.

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><p><strong>A NEW KIND OF WAR<strong>

"_It's really him."_

"_Yeah, I know. It's crazy, right? I just found him, wrapped up in a box like one of those Ken dolls."_

"_I'm not surprised, considering all his nanomachines have been deactivated; the security there must have been extremely tight."_

"_It wasn't a problem for me at all."_

"_Yes, but now there's another problem and that's getting new armor, weapons, upgrades... the data, the enhancements, the Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell blood...He'll be in no position to fight."_

"_Don't worry, leave that to me. I'll come up with some kind of alternative using the stuff we've got for now. Ooh, it's like getting new clothes for Ken, how exciting."_

"..._Don't get carried away;_ w_e need him up and running as soon as possible."_

"_Oh, I think he's waking up."_

"_Good, finish up with your checks and report."_

"_You're not going to stay?"_

"_No, I am needed upstairs. Bring him to me once you're done."_

"_Okay..."_

The two voices had finally ceased with only one remaining.

"—_lo? Hellooo? Can you ...hear...chhh...Hello-?"_

It was the female; her muffled, static-infused voice calling to him. He groaned, opened his azure eyes and bright light flooded his vision; he winced initially, eyelids slamming to a close in response to the visual assault before he re-opened them slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust as the controlled amounts of light gradually allowed the picture before him become softer and softer. It was a fuzzy picture, a mixture of varying colors and shapes, but then the view finally grew sharper and sharper and he could see a blurred outline of a girl before him.

"_Great, you're...chhhhh...-ake..."_ The girl was speaking, but it was no use.

His hearing was no better; it was blotted, the sound clogged up and murky, as though his ears were stuffed with thick wads of cotton wool.

"Hello? Can you hear me properly? How many fingers am I holding up?" She held up her arm but he found that he could not focus on her hand. "Hm? No response. Er...Do you understand English? Hmm, French, perhaps? Bonjour! Umm...Guten Tag? Ciao! Er...Hola? Yeoboseyo? Konnichiwa?"

Her attempts to engage with him still elicited no proper response and she went to a rack affixed to the side of the gurney, delving her hand in to search for something. He heard muffled clattering of metal and soon a bright light shone into his left eye and he knew that she was examining him with some kind of scope. The light disappeared all of a sudden and then decided to reappear in his right eye and his vision went white. A few seconds later and the light retreated and he was seeing spots.

"...Hm...Visuals seem to be in proper working order, if not, a little diluted but still responding to stimuli with no problems." She was muttering to herself, before she hovered over to the side of his head. "Now let's see here..."

Something warm touched his ear, prodding around at his delicate lobe before it went inside the canal; following the bizarre and intrusive movement was a great tug and a 'pop' and suddenly his hearing cleared a great deal.

"That's better..."

Yep, it was a girl's voice.

"Right, I'll just put this...er...thing here."

Emitting another groan, he turned his head to the side to see the retreating back of the girl who had waddled to a desk with something long, wet and sticky in hand. As he lay on the bed, exhaustion took over. He mustered some strength to move his jaw but no intelligible sound emanated from the back of his throat except from a low, grating resonance similar to gears grinding together.

"Here, this might help." The girl had returned to his side and began prodding away at his neck with some sort of tool; he could feel it poking into him and it was not a painful procedure at all but out of reflex, one arm shot out and his fingers grabbed at the scrawny wrist. The other arm grabbed the nearest sharpest object – which turned out to be a scalpel from the operating tray – and he had it poised at her direction, just a centimetre under her chin. The tool in her hand clattered out, dropping onto the floor. He heard a squeak of fear and when his vision finally sharpened, and he found himself staring into the eyes of a clearly frightened human girl. Blue eyes met green. "Eep! Please d-don't kill me! I'm not going to hurt you!" She squeaked, stammering as the scalpel dug painfully into the bottom of her chin, "L-let go!"

"Who are you?"

"Uh...Harrie...My name, its uh...Harrie..."

_Harrie? Who the hell was Harrie?_ His memories did not register anyone he was affiliated with called _Harrie_.

"I'm on your side, see? I'm trying to fix you! Look here..." She flashed him a badge that was pinned to her hoodie; it had an insignia he remembered that once belonged to...

"Doktor?" He growled out.

She nodded slowly. "Y-yeah, you remember, right? Doktor...he helped you during the World Marshal incident...I'm part of his Order."

"And you were fixing me?" It made some sense. She had been examining him earlier on...

"Yeah. Oww...you're hurting me..."

Her meek whimper of pain brought him back to reality. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain, and his instincts or AR systems were not roaring into life, indicating that she was a threat to him. He wanted to let go but found that his arms weren't listening to him entirely. He jerked and floundered a while, trying to loosen up his fingers but to no avail. "...I...I'm...trying." He grunted out in a low rumble, his voice was hoarse and rough, as though from long-term disuse. In fact, it seemed his voice was only stemming from his voicebox only. However, a few seconds later and he managed to drop the scalpel.

"I'll help. H-hold still." She nervously lowered herself down to a crouch beside him to pick up the fallen tool. It turned out to be some kind of miniature wench which she must had been using to tighten some loose bolt in his neck, and she was now prying his fingers off her wrist. She wedged the end of the tool in between her arm and the first finger of his fist. With a small heave, she pried off one finger, then the other and the other, then the rest. Freed from his hand, she cradled her reddening wrist, then met his gaze meekly as he returned to lie over the surface.

"Who are you?" He croaked out, now utilizing this opportunity to glance around the area he was confined in. He studied it carefully; it was a dull gray room with a yellowing human anatomy chart stuck to one far wall. In general, it appeared to be some kind of garage with the many tools of all shapes and sizes hanging from a metal rack affixed to the grimy ceiling. A single lightbulb dangled downwards, casting a dim glow within the room. Aside from that, the rest of the room was filled with cardboard boxes that were overflowing with various mechanical body parts; a cupboard stood stiffly near the boxes, filled to the brim with other strange apparatuses and various junk. A lone single metal bedframe was also shoved to one side, with a filthy mattress and a tattered brown blanket thrown over.

"I told you; my name's Harrie." The girl muttered, and she stuck her hand out in a handshake, which he did not take. Instead, he scrutinized her for a brief moment or so. She was young, with green eyes and a pale complexion. A blue cap sat atop deep, dirty brown hair that went past her shoulders. She was wearing a gray unzipped hooded top with the sleeves rolled to her elbows and a black tank top underneath that was rigged with several holes. Around her neck was a pair of heavy goggles with a thick rim and scruffy glass. A few seconds later and finally, he stuck out a clawed hand and shook her tiny warm hand rigidly. She quickly pulled back however, as though embarrassed by the contact. She left his side to the only desk that was positioned to the far right of the room where she pulled out an old swivel chair with rickety wheels, sat down and began typing away at the equally rickety keyboard and before long, a vitals statistic chart popped into view of the screen, "I found you and brought you here. Don't worry, you're in safe hands. We're the good guys; we're not with the Patriots or Desperado or whatever evil PMCs out there these days. We're none of that."

His eyes narrowed immediately as he contemplated his predicament and her words. "Where am I? What is this place? What happened? Why-"

She craned her head round to him but continued to type away at the screen. "One question at a time, dude." She said with a sniffle, and he was briefly surprised by her aloof, laidback manner, "I know you're really confused right now, maybe even a little scared, but I need to break it down to you slowly, otherwise it might take some time for you to get your head around...or you might just freak out."

Frowning, he let out a raspy scoff at the girl, "Oh yeah? Just try me."

"Huh, so Ken's got a sense of humor." uttered Harrie, who abandoned the computer after a few minutes. Returning to his side, she stared down at him for it seemed he had been lying on some sort of operating table, and she crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side.

"My name's not 'Ken'." He said, "It's Raiden."

"Raiden." She murmured under her breath, "Yeah, I know. I've read about you. Can you sit up?"

"What did you mean by 'read'? Where am I anyway?"

"You're in my lab." She said, "We're underground, somewhere in Denver. As I said before, my name's Harrie. Well, Harriet, to be exact, but no-one really calls me that around here. I'm a mechanic, hence the reason why you're here in the first place. I didn't expect you to wake up so soon, considering your nanomachines were completely disabled and there was so much work I still had to do."

"Deactivated?" He grunted as he tried to sit up, his stiff body creaking and groaning in protest. He recalled then that he'd overheard a conversation some time before he woke up; perhaps he'd enquire later. As he sat up straight, he saw rust and dirt falling off him and fluttering to the dirty tiled ground below in little brown flakes, then proceeded to glance down at himself, "How did you find me?"

"I go on scavenger hunts and you were in the lower basement of the ruined laboratory of _Maverick Industries_." Harrie replied; she pulled her goggles and the band snapped tightly around the back of her head, "I found you so I had you brought back here. Do you mind if I do a quick check?"

He didn't remotely understand. He didn't understand at all. "What do you mean by the ruined laboratory? What's happened to _Maverick_?" He questioned, as she lifted up his arm and held it straight.

"It's gone now." She uttered, inspecting the handiwork keenly. In fact, she was examining his arm so close the glasses of her goggles were almost touching the exterior. She made him turn his arm around and up before attempting to bend it. His arm did not yield to her efforts. "They're all gone."

"Then what about World Marshal? Solis?" His tone growing impatient and desperate, he finally growled out, "_Rose_?!"

Immediately, the computer emitted a loud 'blip' noise in retaliation to his outburst and he turned to the screen. She sighed, and as though reading his mind, she said, "That's going to happen everytime your heart rate spikes up. Calm down. Take it easy...one thing at a time. I'll tell you more later, okay?" She added, as she let go of his arm.

She really wasn't kidding when she told him she would have to break it down to him bit by bit. He sat at the edge of the bed, staring down at his ruined body before bringing his arms up to eye level. Within his fuzzy field of vision, he found that he could still move his fingers to a certain extent, except from his last finger, in which the mobility was now entirely non-responsive. Scanning the rest of himself, he could make out that his entire exterior was damaged, no longer was it the cool, sleek metal he had been fitted and built with...all the enhancements were gone, leaving behind rusted metal and broken parts. The rust was beginning to eat away at his joints, all over his front and shoulder blades. He patted at his lower jaw, finding that his mandible too, was also covered in rust.

"...What happened to me?" He muttered.

"You were deactivated. By that, I mean you were injected with some chemical substance that caused all your nanomachines to perform some kind of manual shut down but with no backlash or repercussions. So, to put it plainly, your 'batteries' were kinda taken out and you were completely unconscious for a while. In fact, you've been shut down for a long time now."

He scrubbed at the imperfect skin of his face with his rusted palm that appeared to be flaking off as well, "...Yeah, I know. It was my final request. I remember."

"Huh? You do...?"

"How long have I been...'deactivated'?"

"If the logs about you are true, then...about seventy years, maybe more?" She said, with a shrug. The lab fell silent following her revelation. "Are you okay?"

Raiden nodded.

"I tried to clean you up as much as possible, but I think I'll need to give you a new paint job, maybe a new eye, some new armor...things like that...and not to mention you're in serious need of upgrading... It's amazing you've woken up considering how outdated your fuel cells are...and I was going to look for new body parts and some kind of fuel for you to use in the junkyard, but then the Gekkos came so I had to hightail." She said, a little forlornly; she was completely oblivious to him as he had winced slightly when she mentioned the paint job. "Do you have any more questions for me?"

"Just one." He grunted out.

"What's that?"

"Why did you wake me up?"

She lifted up her goggles and settled them on top of her cap, and she tried to smile at him, her lips tugging upwards minutely, "Well, we've been looking for you for a long time. We really need your help. You're the only one who can help us."

"Help for what?"

"To win the war." She said, "Against the cyborgs."

...


	2. Chapter 2

Hurray for chapter 2! Thanks soooo much to Guest, Pinochet89 and WolfenAmphithere for the awesome reviews and thanks to those who put my fic on their alerts, too! It means a lot to me knowing that there are people out there who are interested in this story :) Again, apologies for any OOC/mistakes/errors with regards to terms etc, it's really been a long time since I played MGS. If I get anything wrong, so sorry :O

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><p><strong>WAR MACHINE<strong>

"_Doktor."_

"_Ah, Raiden, my old friend! Long time no see! How are you?"_

"_I'm fine. Just wanted to ask you something."_

"_Yes?"_

"_I never asked you about this before, but...the nanomachines inside my body... Can you shut them down?"_

"_And what kind of question is that?"_

"_If you shut them down for me, does that mean I'll be-"_

"_Dead? Mm...kind of...yes and no. Why do you ask?"_

"_Just curious."_

"_Hm-hmm, I see. Yes, it has been a long time, hasn't it, Raiden? You've hardly changed. Your voice has not changed, your body has not changed, your face has not changed. You still look like the way you did when we deployed you to Africa. Are you tired? Tired of your life? Tired of all the bloodshed, the war, the fighting? Tired of seeing the people who once helped you, and those you helped, grow old and die?"_

"_Doktor..."_

"_The truth is, Raiden, the nanomachines that are in your body will not allow you to simply...'die'. That also means you are incapable of aging. Even when you are hurt, the nanomachines are constantly working, constantly repairing the damage so you are back to normal, good as new as your body is no longer that of a human; in fact, your purpose is no longer belonging to a human, but a machine. A war machine. It is difficult to leave war. Once you become part of it, a part of you cannot let it go. You will always be needed on the battlefield. Also, cyborg ninjas such as yourself are a rarity; you will always be highly sought after."_

"_...But Rose is...and John..."_

"_Well, John is not so Little anymore, eh? He can look after himself. And Rose. Ah! Your wife has always been able to hold it out on her own too, right?"_

"_...Yeah. And I'm...still like this."_

"_I didn't think you'd be sentimental, nor did I believe that you cared what others thought about you."_

"_Doktor, if it's possible, I'd like you to shut the nanomachines down. Not now, of course...when I'm ready."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yes."_

"_...Very well. When you believe it is time, come see me. I'll see what I can do."_

...

"You finished yet?"

Harrie stopped poking at his cheek with her index finger, and nodded. "This synthetic skin...It's...it's so real. The material...the handiwork...the craftmanship..." She muttered, before she exclaimed loudly, "It's perfect!"

"Right."

"I'm serious! It's so life-like."

"Almost." He corrected her, "_Almost_ life-like."

She retreated her hand away and continued to crouch down by his side, resting her chin on her folded arms while he turned his head to gaze at her as he lay on the operating table, "I could make stuff like that for you if you want, but it'll be a silicone skin. It'll look and feel a lot life-like than the one you have right now. It'll cover your jaw, your stitches and those little two Frankenstein holes in your forehead completely. People won't be able to even tell the difference, not even if you stood right in their faces. How about it?"

"Do what you want. I don't care." Raiden muttered half-heartedly. Why would there be a need for him to look more human, to restore him to his former glory, the handsome face he used to have? He had no reason. Not anymore.

Yet again, she appeared oblivious to the dejected tone he had adopted. "This is so exciting, I get to design your new cyborg body and come up with all these amazing weapons to customize you with." Harrie exclaimed happily as she proceeded to whip out a tape measure from her pockets before pulling out the retractable tape and placing it against the length of his arm; she proceeded to measure the width of his shoulders, chest and waist, stretching the tape both horizontally and vertically, "So, how did you get by normal life anyway? Living like a normal guy, holding a job, paying bills and stuff?"

"I didn't."

She stopped measuring him almost immediately, "Oh." She uttered, "You know, you're actually taking this pretty well."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...you're not freaking out or anything." She patted him lightly on the chest, and he raised a brow, "Oh, and I also didn't think your voice would be so...um, it doesn't quite match your face...which is really, really weird, so can I-"

"Leave my voicebox alone."

"Okay." She replied, sulking.

Once she'd finished taking down the rest of his measurements, she popped the tape away into one corner and began scribbling on a piece of crumpled paper with a blunt pencil. He watched her idly; this strange girl was called Harrie, and she was a mechanic...although he believed the job title was a little too vague for whatever field of expertise she truly excelled in. Her examinations and various probings were both highly unpleasant and downright bizarre; as he lay unmoving on the operating table, tired and numb, she had been prodding at him from all possible angles, inspecting his body with all sorts of varying tools of all shapes and sizes, jotting down notes as she went along. She also pressed her ear against his chest at some point. What was she expecting to hear? His non-existent heartbeat? Even a magnifying glass was shoved into his face one random occasion and he saw her enlarged bottle green eye and thick eyelashes behind the glass. She blinked, the eyelashes fluttering like feathers. The eye examined his face steadily for a few moments before she proceeded to trail down the rest of his body, and he felt undeniably violated.

"TransHominid Systems GmbH, Mark Four." She was mumbling quietly under her breath, "Note to self: Carbon nanotube muscle fibers, biotic nanorepair paste, megapixel compound image sensor times two...I'll have to make several visits to the lab and the junkyard in this case..."

It dawned to him she was creating a list of all the materials she would need for his new 'body'. He wondered why most of the self-proclaimed geniuses and cybernetic whizzes he had to meet in his life had to be eccentric to a certain degree. After the brief examination, Harrie grabbed a grease-stained apron from a dark corner and looped it around herself, then pulled off her cap and proceeded to tie her hair into a high ponytail with a band off her wrist. She rolled her sleeves even higher up her arms then pulled on a pair of thick, heavy-duty black gloves. Returning to Raiden, she took one long look at him before grabbing a metal welding mask and a strange tool by the handle that were being supported on the wall by hooks.

"This might sting a little by the way..." She muttered as she pulled out an old, worn out piece of rough paper out from the tool before she searched the cupboards for a new one. After exchanging the old for the new, she pulled the mask over her face, flipped the switch on the wall and then tugged at a piece of string attached to the device; immediately it began whirring into life identical to a chainsaw, with the circular patch of paper spinning round and round in a hypnotizing manner.

"What's that?" He had to yell above the noise just to be heard.

She yelled in response, "In case you haven't noticed, you're dirty and rusty and jaggy all over. I can't have you running around the way you are now, you'll hurt someone without even trying to. It'll only take a minute to sand you down, don't worry."

His eyes widened momentarily and when she brought it down over his chest, sparks were flying and the device was grinding against him and creating squealing noises, like nails on chalkboard. "...What's this war about anyway?"

"What? I can't hear you! You'll have to speak louder!"

He repeated himself twice to be heard.

"Oh! The war! Well, the cyborgs have taken over," She began maneuvering the machine around him expertly, grinding away at one clavicle, "According to history, cyborgs and UGs came about during the war economy. Back then, they were solely for military use and espionage. However, their blueprints were leaked and got into the hands of the public. Soon, they were mass-produced and people began to turn to cyber technology for almost everything. Every disease could be suppressed by the nanomachines, every lost limb replaced with artificial ones...Cyborgs could even be bought at some point from retail stores and were brought into homes for servitude, to substitute manual labor at shops, factories, farms...you name it."

He nodded, although he grunted when she was suddenly began sanding at the side of one of his metal ribs. "I remember that." He croaked out, wincing slightly as she continued to sand off at the ribs one by one.

"Basically, the cyborgs began to take over, both pedestrian and militarized. Essentially, they're humans but with mechanical, robotic parts...and like yourself, because of their enhancements, the cyborgs lasted way longer than humans. Don't get me wrong, they were still human, but since they went through the upgrade, essentially their lifespan no longer applied to a regular human. In the end, there was a sufficient decrease in the human population and a drastic increase in the cyborg population. Now, that only happened in a span of ten years, I think."

"Ten years?"

"Yeah, Ken, you'd be surprised." Harrie replied as she finished up on the ribs, then began sanding at one of his arms; sparks were continuously hitting against the protective mask she had adorned, "Eventually, there was this upgrade available that got downloaded into almost every cyborg. Soon, everything changed after that - the cyborgs believed themselves to be an advanced, superior race compared to what they were formerly and began to take things into their own hands. They rebelled against the humans that helped and created them and formed their own government. They managed to overthrow the humans – we didn't stand a chance by the way - then there was prosecution which quickly evolved into mass genocide, then they attempted a mass conversion of the remaining humans into cyborgs but otherwise, decided that it was easier to exterminate them."

"I get it." He said, as Harrie switched off the device and as it gradually came to a stop, she lifted up the mask over her face and let it rest atop of her head, letting out a gentle sigh. "How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad. You'll see for yourself. It's our fault, anyway. That's what you get when you're too ambitious and take technology too far." She said, placing a hand on her hip, "And that's why we're also glad you're here. You can stop them."

He watched her carefully; she seemed to possess some kind of blind, cheery faith in him and he hadn't even known her for more than an hour. He knew nothing about her; he didn't know her background, her age or even her last name. Nothing. She replaced the mask and switched on the machine again; this time she began sanding at his legs. Ever since he met Doktor, there hadn't been anyone else who worked on him like this – certainly not a girl like Harrie. It was almost embarrassing considering how primitive her resources were compared to the elaborate laboratory and tools Doktor used. In fact, everything in this lab appeared outdated and old-fashioned compared to all the high-tech gear Doktor had.

He was relatively surprised to discover that humans were still weak as ever. Here he thought they could have at least evolved to some extent. He was wrong, of course, as evidenced by this girl before him; she appeared to be an average human being albeit with a strange sense of humor... unless she was hiding a third arm somewhere... He stared at her lopsidedly as she smoothed him down with the care and precision identical to one of those beauty salon technicians he'd seen who worked on Rose whenever he would come with Little John to pick her up from those lengthy appointments.

_Rose..._

His expression fell.

Harrie didn't seem to have noticed his sudden sullen mood, gleefully sanding away at one of his clawed toes. Athough her face was hidden by the mask, never had he sensed someone so _happy_. At least someone was having fun. Whilst the machine whirred and buzzed loudly, he let his gaze rest on the ceiling. Here he was, woken up from a deep sleep, beckoned by the lull of war once again. And according to Harrie, it had been more than seven decades. He never did agree to help Harrie and assist them in winning the war she had been telling him about...but it seemed like he probably didn't have much of a choice. Didn't they know the reason why he chose to be deactivated? The reason why he wanted to be left alone in the basement of Maverick, to be hidden away and locked up firmly by the most robust of security available back then? Didn't they know that he was tired of war and fighting?

And now that he was back, the only reasons he would want to live for would be for Rose and John, and _nobody else_, _nothing else_?

"Whew..." Harrie's voice brought him back to reality yet again and he saw her switching off the machine. She pulled it away from his newly-smoothed down foot which appeared to be gleaming like a crystal under the dim light, then lifted up the mask and wiped away at sweat on her brow. Grinning at him, she said, "Okay, now turn round so I can sand off all the rust on your butt."

He clamped down on his lower jaw with his top lip, hard. "Harrie." He bit out.

"Yeah?" She reached to the side and tugged at a cloth from a hook on the wall before she proceeded to sling it over her shoulder. It was probably going to be used on him for polishing, no doubt.

"Thanks for doing all this, but-"

"What?"

"I never said I was going to help."

Her jaw dropped consequently. "...What?" She squeaked, as Raiden lifted himself from the table and swung his hefty legs around; as his heeled foot made contact with the ground, it cracked underneath from his sheer weight. She let out a gasp when he made another step forwards and once his foot landed, the ground shattered like a mosaic. His immense weight once properly activated was really something she hadn't anticipated.

At first, he wobbled slightly on his legs but once he managed to control his awkward movements, he made his way towards the direction of the apparent exit of her lab. "I can't help you."

She followed after him immediately, having to hop over the wire of the sanding machine so she wouldn't trip up. "Wait, Raiden!" She exclaimed; for once, she'd bothered to use his name. "Raiden, please don't go."

He did not turn to face her. "Waking me up was a mistake, Harrie. I'm not your ally. I'm not your friend. I'm not a human. I'm a cyborg, and I don't want anything to do with this war. I never did."

"I know, Raiden...and I know this is...this is so selfish of us to ask of you...especially since you just woke up and it's been so long and everything's all different and you have no idea what's going on... but if you don't help, there will be no future for all of us. You protect the weak, your sword is your tool of justice!" She continued to exclaim, before she rushed to the side and after some moments struggling with something that was hidden behind a cardboard box, she finally pulled out a long, thin piece of rusting metal and returned to his side, holding it up to him to see.

He stared, recognizing it to be one of his HF blades he had once wielded; she held it out to him, goading him to take it off her. _Tool of justice...protecting the weak...Hmph._ He coldly brushed her off, "Then let there be no future. Maybe that's the way it is supposed to be."

She shook her head wildly, "No! That's not true! Why would you say something like that?"

"And what would you know? I don't know you, and you don't know me. What would you know about me?"

"I know everything about you! I read all about you –the...the logs, the data, the files! I know that you were a child soldier, and you were captured by the Patriots and they turned you into what you are now...but despite all that, you're a hero-"

It was becoming more and more unsettling to hear her mentioning that she had 'read' all about him, and here he was knowing nothing about her. It chilled him to the core. "Shut up." He snarled at her, eyebrows furrowing deeply with anger, "You don't know _anything _about me!"

The lab shook slightly from the volume of his voice, tools clanging against each other noisily and then from the sides of his head, the two flaps of his visor became loose and slammed shut in front of his eyes. The room gradually became engulfed in silence, and as he glared at her from behind the dark glass, he could see her expression dampening until the door to the lab opened and an old, stern-faced man dressed in a large and hulking, chocolate-brown trenchcoat stood at the doorway with a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder.

"What the hell is going on here?" The man promptly began to demand angrily.

He was joined by a small globular machine with two limbs that substituted for legs along with a final limb that was flapping around helplessly on top of the spherical robot. A Dwarf Gekko...only it was painted a gray in color. Raiden hadn't seen one for some time, especially a gray one. He also wondered what one might be doing here, but he didn't sense any hostility from the little robot. Harrie turned to face the newcomers, "Richmond!" She squawked in shock, as the man stormed into the laboratory using his metal walking stick for support. He stopped shortly in front of the duo whilst the Dwarf Gekko trailed after him, using its two hands to prance around in an awkward manner.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" The man named Richmond fumed, whilst Harrie shrunk away. Meanwhile, the Dwarf Gekko jogged over to Raiden and looked up, saw him staring at it from the bottom of his eyes, and immediately scrambled back towards the old man, hiding behind his legs. "I knew this was a bad idea...leaving you in the hands of Harrie our...'delightful' mechanic." Richmond muttered under his breath, shaking his head. He didn't seem to have noticed the Dwarf Gekko that was cowering behind him. Eventually, he averted attention to the cyborg who was still eyeing the Dwarf beadily, "Mr Raiden? May I have a word with you, please?"

"Actually, I was about to leave." The cyborg grunted, and Harrie was about to wail in protest again until Richmond held out his hand, stopping him.

"Mr Raiden, I am so sorry that Harrie has made you upset. I shall take over and duly explain all you need to know, I only require five minutes of your precious time. After that, you will be free to do as you please."

Raiden stared him down but the man named Richmond was equally undeterred by the cyborg's steady, intimidating gaze. "...Fine." Raiden eventually grumbled out, and both Harrie and Richmond were suddenly wearing wide grins on their faces.

"Thank you." Richmond said happily, before gesturing to the cyborg towards the door of the lab. "Can you walk, yes? Harrie, did you fix him?"

"He's fine...I did all the mandatory checks. I was sanding him too, so...yeah, he's fine..."

"Great, thanks. Mr Raiden, come this way, please, we've much to tell you about. You too, Shelly, come along."

Richmond stepped out first, with the gray Gekko trailing after him; Raiden made a motion to follow. Before he left, however, he felt something press into his palm and turned round expectantly. It was Harrie; she was looking up at him with an apologetic expression that he felt the tiniest jolt of remorse course through his system for having raised his voice at her unceremoniously. When he threw his glance to his hand, he noticed she had handed him the hilt of the rusted, useless HF blade for his taking.

"Take it," She said, "It belongs to you."

However, to her dismay, he did not accept the blade. "No," He replied, "Not anymore."


	3. Chapter 3

Hello everyone! Thank you Pinochet89, Clara, WerewolfCrime and grandshadowseal for the reviews and favs/alerts :) Before writing this I watched some videos of Metal Gear Rising, so I guess I'll be taking elements from that game and incorporate it into this story. I am pleased to present to you the third chapter ~ Whilst there is no love blooming between our cyborg and our mechanic (which is a bit of a shame, I guess), I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day!

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><p><strong>WELCOME TO THE FUTURE<strong>

Raiden followed the man named Richmond out of Harrie's underground lab. Once they reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that Harrie's lab appeared to be a basement of some sort and the floor above was belonging to a bookstore. He glanced around, having to step over the fallen bookcases and piles and piles of dusty, discarded books on the floor along the way. Behind the clerk's counter was a small desk containing a strange machine and some tools. Apparently Richmond must have been working there until he overheard the argument. Richmond opened the two double doors of the store and exited, before prompting the cyborg to follow once more. Outside, and Raiden's lingering sensory functions were immediately hit with the frothy, unmistakable stench of metal, blood and rust.

"Welcome to the future," Richmond said, gesturing with his arms out as Raiden glanced around, "It's probably not as you had imagined it."

The sky was a dull, dull gray, casting an equally drab tint on the dilapidated buildings that surrounded them. The sun was nowhere to be seen. The ground was no better; it appeared to be a gray desert consisting entirely of debris and dirt with no hint of fauna anywhere. The atmosphere was thick and stuffy, laden with dust clouds and musk. It appeared they were standing in the middle of a street that once belonged to a larger, busier part of the city for he saw that the many fallen, crumbled buildings surrounding them were a mix of large buildings, skyscrapers and stores. He also saw a church, some restaurants, a diner, a pharmacy, a flower shop and a record store. Unsurprisingly, they were all abandoned and crumbling, with windows smashed, doors broken. Nearby, a small line of empty, rotted vehicles that closely resembled cars were parked next to a half-fallen lamppost. Other cars in his field of vision were either upturned or lying on their sides, riddled with gaping bullet holes.

Raiden took a step forwards but he found the air very difficult and heavy to breathe in, and as he lowered himself down onto one knee, he let out a rather strangled cough. "What happened?" He croaked out; although he was a cyborg, the dreary conditions appeared to affect him some way or another. He drove his hand into the gray dirt and picked up a handful, only to watch the dry soil in his palm wither away in the wind, "Why has it become like this?"

Richmond seemed unaffected by the desiccated climate and surroundings however, and shrugged casually. "Global warming, due to intense mass-production and manufacturing...all that smoke and fume went into the atmosphere and now the sun only comes out once a day for an hour or so. You get used to it." He replied, glancing around the rest of the miserable, ruined city. Turning to Raiden, he cocked his head towards the direction of the church. "This way."

The cyborg followed Richmond, crossing the street and towards the derelict church. The streets were empty, entirely devoid of human presence. "Is it just you and Harrie here?" Raiden asked, settling his eyes on the man who was hobbling along the street on his stick.

"Yep."

"You two related?"

"Nope. I took Harrie in when she was a toddler. I've been raising her like my own."

_So Richmond must be like a surrogate father to her_, he thought. "And what happened to her parents?"

"Killed by cyborgs."

A flicker of guilt consumed him for having inquired about her past. "...Isn't it a bit lonely here? Haven't you considered moving elsewhere?"

"Where else can we go? Besides, it's actually quite safe here."

"You think this is safe?"

"We're underground."

"You're still exposed."

"Ahh, you truly are a soldier, aren't you? Your mind; it's been sharpened, tailored for war and battle!" While Raiden grunted in response, Richmond chuckled as the Dwarf Gekko trailed after them, bumbling close beside the old man; it stopped at another set of hatch doors near the church cemetery before opening the doors for them, "We can talk more in here. The sun's due to set in an hour so I'll ask Harrie to come over and pick you up then. It's actually a little tolerable when it's night because it's not so hot and the weather calms down, but that's when the Gekkos come out because of those conditions. Thanks, Shelly. Close the doors for us, please."

Yet again, they traveled down another set of stairs after Shelly closed the doors behind them as requested and they arrived at another underground shelter. Richmond's lodgings were in slightly better shape than Harrie's. His shelter was also bigger, brighter and cleaner; it consisted of a desk that stood proudly in the middle with a map displayed on top. A bed was at the side, with the blanket neatly folded and the pillow carefully propped up. A set of hooks stuck to the wall in one corner held up some jackets and what appeared to be a sneaking suit.

Richmond took one chair and gestured for Raiden to sit opposite him but the cyborg chose to stand. "My name is Edgar Richmond. This is my trusty Dwarf Gekko, Shelly."

At that point, the Dwarf waved at the cyborg with one of its limbs before it hopped over into Richmond's lap and Raiden watched as the old man gently pulled off one of its arms. The Dwarf didn't seem to mind. Settling the unwanted limb on the table, he stood again and carried the Dwarf over to a tube sticking downwards from the ceiling that contained a rounded slot that looked like it might fit the slot of the Dwarf where the missing arm had been attached to. He popped the Dwarf into the end of the tube, fitting neatly into the slot with a loud 'pop' and using the remaining two arms; he bent them into a ninety degree angle.

"Shelly can act as a periscope, you see." Richmond explained, "This tube here joins onto one of Shelly's arm slots and in turn, this tube runs from here, underground, all the way up high to the church's spire, giving me a good view of our surroundings."

"Yeah, okay." came Raiden's somewhat dry response, "I'm surprised this church is still standing in one piece."

"We weren't hit as bad compared to the other cities." The old man continued to mutter as he steered the Gekko-scope around in a one hundred and eighty degree angle, "There are people in other bases like this one spread around in different parts of the country...Harrie and I moved here in order to participate in 'Project Raiden', and that was to locate your whereabouts."

"Project Raiden?" The cyborg questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. Following the movement was a stiff groan from his rusted joints. Anymore of that and he wondered if he might actually fall apart anytime soon.

"You're the only cyborg known to have assisted humans." Richmond replied, and he let go of the Gekko-scope to face the cyborg directly. "That makes you one of our most powerful allies. According to history, you withdrew from military service about sixty years after the World Marshal incident and you chose to be deactivated... then you simply dropped off the radar. No-one knew where you were, what had truly happened, and there was a lot of speculation as to where you might have been laid to rest. It could've been Alaska, it could've been in Liberia...but we found you here in Denver, hidden deep underground in the ruined laboratory of a sealed-off base of _Maverick Industries_. It sounds easy, right? But it wasn't. Maverick went to great lengths to ensure that you weren't found. Harrie had been excavating the same site for almost a year. I kept telling her to give up but she was sure this was a lead."

_They think I'm a god or something_, Raiden thought. "Harrie said she found me on a scavenger hunt."

"Come on now, Raiden, the girl's been searching for you for years...you inspire her, bring her hope like no other...you gave her a reason to keep on going when most people would've given up, and now that she's finally found you..." Richmond deliberately left the sentence trailing, grinning widely.

_She probably didn't want to come across to me as a nutjob, I suppose._ Raiden thought. "Why do you think I'll help you? From what you're telling me, it sounds like you haven't even considered what I think about all of this. You just took me and woke me up...now you're expecting me to fight."

"You're our last chance, Raiden. That's the whole reason why Harrie and I are here. I understand this is all terribly unfamiliar to you but once I explain, you'll find out it is not so different to what you did in the past after all."

He hated the past. Honest to god, he despised his past, had always tried to run away from it and to forget it but to no avail, and he certainly didn't appreciate Richmond speaking so offhandedly and freely about him like this. The same went for Harrie. He grunted out, "How is that you know so much about me?"

"Ahh, let me show you." Richmond said, pulling out a drawer. Plunging a hand in, he lifted out a manila folder and placed it on the surface of the desk before he eased himself into his chair, resting comfortably. "_Project Raiden_ contained a detailed and most informative study of your history, your background, your feats. You're kind of a hero."

He got the gist of it too thanks to Harrie. Every time the girl spoke to him he literally saw admiration in her eyes glimmering like stars. Raising an eyebrow, he plucked the folder off the table and rifled through; there was indeed, a strenuous amount of hand-collected data about him stuffed in the file. It was almost spine-chilling. As he continued to go through the files, he'd come across a photograph of himself, Rose and John when they'd went to a trip to Paris. They were standing in Trocadero with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower behind them. Little John was holding one robot hand with a Mickey Mouse headband perched atop the crown of his white-blond hair, grinning at the camera. Rose was looking pretty in her smoky makeup, dark, suede jacket and heels. And there he was dressed in that black, large trenchcoat that covered his neck and chin all the way up to his nose since nothing else was large enough to cover his awkward, mechanical build without making him look box-shaped or downright bizarre (it was either that or a black binbag. He didn't choose the bag). Even in civilian clothes and the civilian body he still looked odd. In the photo, he resembled the monster who'd crawled straight out of a B-horror movie, an absolute abomination. Certainly not human. Now that he remembered, he'd recalled the many unfriendly and often cold, piercing stares they'd received. Disheartening to say the least, as it killed the romantic atmosphere of the French city and the desire to relax and have fun with the family.

As the memories rushed back to him, he found himself clenching the photo that it crumpled slightly under his sweltering grip. "I've already told Harrie and I'll tell you too. I'm not interested in this war. I'm not interested in fighting." He grunted as he pocketed the photo.

Richmond sighed as the cyborg handed him the folder even though he had only one brief glimpse through. "I had the feeling that might be the case. But even if you don't want to be a part of this war, we can't deactivate you. We don't have the resources."

"Can't Harrie replicate the process?"

"She's a mechanic and a darn good one, but she doesn't know how to repeat the process. That's the only thing she doesn't know." Richmond said, rubbing at his withered, stubbly chin, "I'm sure Harrie has told you about the cybernetic war. Did she tell you that humans are on the brink of extinction too?"

He briefly remembered her saying something like that but it wasn't quite along those lines. He remembered her telling him that there was an increase in cyborg population and a decrease to the human population.

"Did she also tell you that we're also losing the war?" Richmond uttered under his breath; he pulled off his glasses and wiped them clean with a dirty cloth before prodding them back over his nose, "The cyborgs and their forces are growing stronger and stronger. They're capturing and killing more and more humans every second, every day. If you help us, Raiden, we'll need you to travel to the headquarters of the main resistance and intel. No doubt your presence there will greatly boost morale. Here, I want you to have this." Richmond promptly opened one of the cupboards and took out a black arm band which he proceeded to show Raiden.

The cyborg recognized it immediately once he took it off the old man. "This is..."

"A symbol of our cause." Richmond replied, "It means you are one of us."

It was the logo of Philanthropy. He'd recognize it anywhere. "And where are the headquarters?"

"It's-" An interruption caused by Shelly the Dwarf Gekko made the two men turn to the little robot; it had begun flailing, arms wriggling around while emitting a high-pitched wailing noise and immediately, Richmond got off the chair in a flash, ignoring the fact that he'd sat up with so much force it fell backwards, and he hobbled over to the Gekko-scope. "Shelly? What is it? What do you see?" He promptly peered into the glass and withdrew in a second. "Shit..."

"What is it?" Raiden demanded, noticing how distressed the old man seemed to have become.

"It's a RAY; usually they just pass overhead but this one's circling for some reason." Richmond murmured, before he suddenly exclaimed, "_Harrie!_"

Raiden watched the old man move away from the Gekko-scope, scooping up his hunting rifle that he'd left leaning against the wall along with his walking stick, whilst Raiden went to the scope and peered through the glass himself. He could see a large but familiar, sleek black Metal Gear hovering around a certain spot a great distance away from their shelter; peering further, he could see an equally familiar girl hiding behind a large rock.

"This isn't good!" Richmond was yelling, hobbling towards the door.

"Wait—" The cyborg said quickly, halting the man in his tracks. How on earth would a hunting rifle fare across a RAY, and how would Richmond fight off the MG anyway? For a brief moment, he did a double-take, realizing that he'd stopped Richmond without a second thought. As Richmond eyed him anxiously, Raiden added, "I'll go."

At first, Richmond stared at the cyborg with his eyes wide and mouth agape, but then nodded briefly. "Be careful, Raiden."

With Richmond's blessing in the form of a firm pat on his metal shoulder, Raiden proceeded to leave the safety of the shelter and arrived outside; it had been a rather long time since the entire time, his body had been creaking from the amount of internal rust that had built up over the span of seven decades, and he wondered if he'd be able to even fight. Even his vision was still fuzzy, and no matter how many times he attempted to adjust it, it did not improve; Raiden blindly made his way to the site where the RAY was hovering.

As he neared the plains, he could see the great, hulking machine and Harrie who was trying to seek shelter from the large rock. He saw it lunge at her – and without thinking twice – he charged forwards and seized hold of its massive tail, stopping the RAY altogether. He saw it turn ever-so-slightly, and then there was a sickening crack as it pulled its tail away violently and he went flying backwards from the force. He'd fought RAYs before but the assault had him dizzy and disoriented as he landed back down on the ground. Perhaps an upgrade was solely needed after all. With the newcomer, the Metal Gear averted attention from Harrie and turned to the cyborg instead.

"Raiden, no!" Harrie exclaimed, watching helplessly as it began to trudge towards him.

"Stay back!" He yelled, just as one of its gargantuan foot came crashing down on him; he grunted from the sheer impact as the foot collided with him, driving him into the ground. From the corner of his eye, he saw Harrie making a move towards him but he shook his head fiercely. "No! You stay there!"

"But-"

"Don't move!" He yelled; the blow was enough to kickstart his sensory inhibitors and suddenly he was experiencing pain. He didn't quite remember RAY's being this powerful.

Noticing that Raiden hadn't gotten up or recovered from the assault as the foot lifted off him, Harrie pushed herself off the ground, limping slightly from her injured ankle. "HEY!" She grabbed a hefty stone and with a swing of her arm, tossed it at the RAY's foot which had been readying itself for another attack. "Hey, you leave him alone!"

Now the RAY had returned to focus on Harrie; she paled and began hopping backwards although she knew there was simply no place to hide. Emitting a great roar, the RAY's shielded core opened up and she stared wide-eyed into its laser as it whirred into life, aiming at her. Before the laser could hit her, however, she suddenly found herself being tackled to the ground and she looked up to see none other than Raiden who had managed to reach her in time. The lasers went firing into empty space, having missed its target.

Harrie was blinking up at the cyborg numbly, "R-Raiden..." She squeaked out breathlessly.

"What the hell do you think you were doing!?"

"I-I had to do something..."

"You could've gotten yourself killed! What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I went out to look for parts but then the RAY..." She said, letting her sentence trail off as the RAY came at them again - before it could stomp on them, he'd grabbed her and in a quick turn of events, maneuvered her so she was underneath him, safe. "Raiden-" She was interrupted when she saw the great shadow of the Metal Gear's foot above them, and she squeezed her eyes shut when it came crashing down; the ground shook, trembling violently from the assault and she shakily opened one eye and glanced up to see that Raiden had taken the brunt of the attack.

"Ungh!" He grunted; now felt like a good time for his back to possibly snap in half. It was amazing he'd managed to even block the foot without getting both of them crushed to death. Having Harrie here certainly was a disadvantage, especially when he wasn't even sure himself if he would be able to win this battle, and with no weapons, too. "Get outta here..." He said, a tad weakly, as it retreated its foot. "I'll deal with this."

It didn't appear Harrie had much of a choice nor a chance to escape, since the RAY had reared back up and was readying itself for another attack. It was no use; he needed his blade. The foot came down again, and Harrie screamed as the ground proceeded to quake furiously underneath from the impact; the noise was deafening and witnessing the girl's terrified form opened his eyes a great deal as to how damaging it was for a civilian to be caught in the middle of a battlefield. This time Raiden had faltered slightly from the attack, his arms trembling, and she knew he wouldn't last long if this came up.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine...You need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you behind, I – _HEAT BLADE_!" She screamed, pointing behind him; Raiden grabbed her once more and this time, pushed them both to safety as the RAY's blade came slamming down. Nevertheless, the ground shuddered from the impact and Harrie went flying into the air as the ground practically splintered into two. She landed painfully, rolling to the side, and when she saw the RAY's blade lift back up, she got up wobbly and caught sight of the cyborg lying nearby. "Raiden!" She yelped, as he got up and made his way towards her.

"I'm okay. Let's get out of here." He said, before he lowered himself to her level and grabbed her once more, although this time, he swept her legs off the ground and she found herself in his arms. Unfamiliar with this arrangement, she glanced up at him numbly as he began to carry her out of the plains. If his arms weren't made out of metal, it would've been a far more comfortable experience, she thought. "Hang on tight."

Before she could reply, he was suddenly dashing out of the plains at an astonishing speed. He'd never performed a Ninja Run when he was carrying someone; Harrie was clinging onto him for dear life. The RAY followed after them with a shower of bullets from its wings which he missed narrowly, had he not been checking over his shoulder every now and then. She squeezed her eyes shut as the bullets ricocheted off the ground like rain; the entire time she was praying not to be shot; if she recalled correctly, Raiden had been involved in security work as a bodyguard. The rate of his clients being protected and safe at the end of the mission had been 98.5% (...with the 1.5% accrued from the African President N'mani's assassination at the hands of the Desperado cyborg called _Sundowner_). Suddenly, Raiden jerked and they both went tumbling to the ground - he'd been hit by one of the bullets - and Harrie went flying out of his arms, landing a distance away. His view went upside down as he went spiraling and when he finally stopped, he was left to gaze up at the giant RAY as it finally caught up to them.

It lunged forwards and caught him in between the jaws, lifting him high into the air; Harrie was left watching helplessly from the ground. With a curled fist, he beat down on the massive Metal Gear, punching several dents into the thick, black metal. It was not until Raiden saw a familiar little robot bumbling towards the scene before coming to a stop beside Harrie; it began leaping up and down in the air and he could see that it was the Dwarf Gekko. He noticed that it was holding his rusted HF Blade in its limb. Richmond must've sent it for them. The Gekko stopped hopping altogether, and waving the blade around in the air like the propellers of a helicopter, it threw the blade towards his direction; Harrie's eyes had widened as the blade spun through the air in a circle, hurtling closer and closer towards the direction of Raiden and the RAY, he stretched his arm out and the hilt of the blade landed neatly into the palm of his hand.

With the HF blade in hand, Harrie and Gekko watched as Raiden began hammering away at the RAY immediately. Sensing the counter attacks, it threw the cyborg out of its mouth and before he landed on the ground, he gave the RAY several slashes with the blade and one of its knees gave way, with its mounted launchers and armor slashed like ribbons. The RAY gave a cry as it dropped to one side, its knee useless.

The cyborg landed on the ground in a low crouch before rising to stand, blade at the ready in an offensive stance. "It's payback time." He muttered, before the flaps of his visors slammed shut over his eyes.

...


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone, thank you for the reviews :3 Thanks to grandshadowseal, shoni. mei1, Guesty TD, Akuma Kawashima and dillydip248 for reviewing. Guesty TD – many apologies but since it is an anonymous review, I cannot PM you, but yeah! I totally get what you mean. I actually find writing Raiden's outward character easier than writing about how emotionally traumatized he is etc. I will try to find some windows of opportunities to balance his violent persona since there hasn't been any so far yet. However, it is the 4th chapter and I'm not sure if some of you guys are find that this is either dragging on, or if there needs to be more time to explain things.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, too~

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><p><strong>MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE<strong>

Raiden always had rotten luck.

The easiest he could explain this was, for example, he entered a bank establishment and there were two queues. One queue was massive and another was short. Out of common sense, he joins the shortest queue. Almost immediately the other line begins to pick up but for some reason, the queue he has just joined does not budge an inch and he ends up waiting longer than originally planned. So it goes.

The same could perhaps apply to this situation; he quickly began to fight the RAY and he discovered it should not be so difficult after all once he had a weapon in hand (despite the dulled, blunt edge of his blade) as the RAY also appeared to fall into the standard list of the many Metal Gears he'd faced off. Once he'd crippled one of its knees, it resorted to the usual techniques he'd remembered RAYs utilizing; it zoomed in on him, tried to crush him several times with its gigantic feet, then occasionally it'd fired off some missiles from its pauldrons which he'd evaded using a few clumsy, imperfect backflips. He concentrated on the other foot then, remembering the tactics he used to employ when fighting off against these brutal machines. The RAY was powerful but it was too slow, having to turn its enormous body around just to fend him off. Occasionally it'd dart forwards and backwards, flitting around like an insect, and then a flamethrower would come into effect but the plains granted Raiden enough space to take dodge. When it finished spewing forth flames, he'd merely repeat the process of hack, slash, cut once the RAY was wide open for assault.

A heat blade sprang out on occasion too. He made short work of it by dodging it before jumping onto the blade when it got stuck into the ground; he would proceed to run on its spine and up to the MG's core before slashing at it. The RAY would retaliate by shooting more missiles at him. Again, he would dodge, but there would always be the one that he couldn't avoid no matter what. He wasn't as agile as he used to be. He found himself falling over more than he should've.

He tried to close in on it – but the RAY anticipated his move - and with one massive swing of its hulking tail, he tried to parry the blow with the blade but his entire body left the ground. His back met hard brick and metal – he'd been thrown towards the direction of a large building with so much brute force the wall crumbled under him and he went hurtling inside the building and out, breaking down another wall in progress, landing outside in another section of the plains. At least he was still clutching his blade tightly in one clawed hand.

With Raiden out of the picture, the RAY turned away, its focus solely concentrated on Harrie.

"Uh-oh." She began to limp away immediately with Shelly bouncing after her.

Meanwhile, Raiden was stuck in his own predicament. He got up, shaking debris and dust off himself. He tried to stand, legs wobbling slightly. He could see that the building in front of him was the only thing separating him from the RAY. Going round it would take some time; the best way to get back to where Harrie was would be to use the holes he'd created. Kicking off the ground, he tried to leap back onto the hole he'd created and fallen out of only to lose his footing, tumbling to the ground as his arms grappled at thin air. He landed painfully, a few loose bricks dropping on top of his head for good measure, too. He had to raise his arms to shield himself. A part of him wanted to give up, actually. He was tired. So very tired. He felt like a relic. A remnant of a time long past. Some ancient artifact that belonged in a museum, to be pointed at and marveled and to be remembered by a plaque or a leaflet.

However, he couldn't let Harrie, an innocent, die.

Thrusting the HF blade into the dull soil, he used it to push himself off the ground. He was exhausted, having to slump over it for a few seconds with his head low, sucking in some noisy breaths. The time had certainly taken a toll on his abilities, but if it was something Doktor had told him, it was that he could push himself beyond any limits of a normal man no matter what. With a growl, he attempted the jump again, HF blade in hand.

To his surprise, he landed successfully, swaying slightly on his weak legs. As soon as he regained balance, he charged through the building and saw the RAY advancing on the mechanic, fast. It slammed one foot down and as the ground quaked, she was thrown off her feet. The Dwarf fared no better as it rolled around helplessly. Harrie tried to crawl away, only for the RAY's other foot to come crashing down, blocking her left and right. Once Shelly stopped rolling, it stood in front of her but Raiden could see its limbs shaking as it faced off the giant machine before it; she had grabbed the little robot, hugging it tightly to herself as the great Metal Gear loomed over them both, readying its massive foot to crush them once and for all. In response, Shelly hugged her back.

He couldn't let this happen. He kicked off the ground as hard as he could, propelling himself towards their direction. He closed in on the RAY as it stood with its back to him and with the blade poised for striking, he closed his eyes as he slammed into the machine. There was a sound like a bomb exploding.

Then everything went dark.

...

"Jack?"

_...Hn...ngh...W-what..._

"Jack..."

_...Rose? Is that you? Rose! Where are-_

"Jack, please come back home. Please come back to me."

_...Huh?_

"It's been ten years; don't you think you've been gone long enough? Little John will be going to college soon. I...wanted you to come and see him off because he'll be living in the dormitory for the rest of the semester. He wanted to see you before he left. I hope this gets to you safely. We'll always be waiting for you...Please come back home..."

...

Someone was holding him. "Raiden!" A voice exclaimed. Now he was being shaken to and fro fiercely. There was a high-pitched ringing noise in his ears, but he thought he could make out a familiar voice, and the muted, familiar voice was screaming, "Raiden! No...no, no, wake up!"

He didn't want to move...

"Raiden, wake up, please!"

He remained still, unresponsive.

"Raiden!"

"Ngghhh." He felt obligated to respond. Pain wracked his entire body and the person who was shaking him was not helping. His head throbbing, the name of his beloved escaped his mouth in a hoarse croak. "Rose...?"

The shaking stopped, and he opened his eyes weakly to see a familiar, scruffy mechanic looming above him. No, it was not Rose. It was the girl he knew to be Harrie. They had been under attack by a RAY. Oh. Now he remembered. He threw himself into the RAY. A suicidal and brash tactic but here he was...

"...Raiden?" She squeaked out.

He forced himself to sit up only to discover that he could not and that he was lying in a pool of white, slippery goo which he realized was his own artificial blood. With what little strength he had, he threw his glance down to himself then tried to move his arms and legs. His right arm was missing completely, sparks crackling and firing from his shoulder like tiny fireworks. His left was strangely intact but completely stripped of its exterior protective plates. One of his legs was ripped from the knee down, lying uselessly on the ground and only being held together by a few loose wires. He didn't even want to know what happened to his other leg.

"Shelly, he's okay! Come on, help me lift him up, he's losing a lot of blood – " He could hear Harrie exclaiming with relief as she rose to stand and he saw the Dwarf Gekko at his side and he was being lifted up. Harrie returned in front of him; hands placed gently on the sides of his face. "You're going to be okay...you're gonna be okay."

Despite Harrie's eccentric nature, he was relatively surprised to find that she had a delicate bedside manner. She disappeared from his field of vision and there was a grip under his arms and he found himself being dragged across the harsh ground, white blood leaking underneath him and soiling the ground. How on earth could Harrie carry him? He weighed over three hundred tonnes, maybe more. Perhaps that was the reason they kept stopping and starting. He could see one useless clawed foot being dragged in front of him whilst the other leg was a distance away and being pulled along by a long, thick red wire...further away, he saw an unmoving RAY on the ground engulfed in smoke and flames with a gaping hole in its body.

"...Rose..." He kept muttering under his breath, as they dragged him back to the shelter. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he thought he heard Rose's voice calling out to him, too.

...

For what seemed like an eternity, Raiden lived the next couple of weeks in a state that could only be described as though one was in a cinema viewing a movie but with no access to popcorn or soft drink to enjoy the experience. Furthermore, this movie was not enjoyable and to his dismay, did not last an hour or two long. In fact, it was very long and winded. He was disengaged and distant the entire time during the experience, detached from his body and the entire world. There he was, sitting in an empty screening room where it was dark and he had taken a seat in a middle row, staring at the screen, watching the events unfold before him. And he could not do anything about it.

The movie was focused on one setting only – it was Harrie's dark and dank lab - in first person perspective. There was the door a distance in front of him, the computer and desk to the left, the shelf with useless metal parts to the right; he guessed Harrie had propped him upright on the operating table using elastic belts and plastic fasteners to hold him down.

Harrie was working the entire time. Richmond occasionally came and so did Shelly, but they would only stay for a few hours before returning to their shelter. Most of the time, it was just Harrie. Raiden saw her sitting at her desk with a dim lamp as the only source of light and she'd be wearing this ridiculous helmet with the magnifying glass strapped to the front. He'd see her furiously drawing with a blunt pencil before rubbing away at the paper in front of her with a worn-out eraser. He'd see her turn to him occasionally as though she was checking up on him, but then she would glance away at the human anatomy poster on the wall, then return to work and continue her endless drawing spree. This went on for a few days.

Eventually, she succumbed to exhaustion after several nights of nothing but work and she slumped over her desk for a day or so with her eyes closed, mouth half-open. Snoring. During her sleep, he'd hear her whine and call out for her mother. When she finally awoke, he would see her jerk in her spot and she would merely sit in her seat as though aware of her nightmares and the fact that she'd been calling for her parents, and she would stare dejectedly into her lap. Next, she would begin berating herself angrily before proceeding to draw again. He would occasionally see her eating some cold food out of a tinned can or drinking from a flask. When she changed clothes, he'd turn away from embarrassment, respect and courtesy.

Aside from that, he deduced she was a workaholic.

A week later, she took the numerous drawings which she had been working on and pinned them to a cork board. She ran out of space and ended up sticking some on the wall. He could see that she had drawn blueprints of a cyborg body. His body. Other sketches contained blade designs, visors and other complicated illustrations of weapons. They were all eerily, incredibly detailed.

Practical work resumed once all designs were collated. Initially, he saw Richmond carry some parts and scraps of metal down the stairs to the lab and deposit them in a corner for her one morning. Once everything had been gathered, Harrie began working away on metal with the tools she had in her lab, hammering away with a hammer, sawing with a saw, welding with a welder, sanding with a sander, the usual. She would make ten, twenty randomly assorted metal pieces a day. The metal pieces she'd been shredding and grinding with the finesse and precision of an artist finally began to form shape and he could see that she was creating new armor, new shoulder plates, arm pieces, leg protectors, everything. With the new pieces, she spray painted them a black in color and she left them to dry on the floor on top of some old newspaper. Then one day, again, he saw her slumped over her desk, eyes closed, mouth open. Snoring. She was holding a drill in hand with the mask still strapped around her head.

One day, he witnessed a conversation between herself and Richmond:

"Is he awake?" Richmond was asking, standing in front of Raiden's vision so closely he could see up the old man's nostrils.

"I don't think so." replied Harrie, as she worked on the computer, tapping away at the keys without looking at the board once. "He's in some kind of cyborg coma."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah, because Raiden's not like the other cyborgs. He's different."

"So, what exactly happened that day?"

"He catapulted himself into the RAY like a cannonball. I think he was actually trying to do something else because it looked horribly wrong. He still killed it anyway." She said, sniffling slightly. Perhaps 'killed' was the wrong term to describe the fact that he defeated the RAY, but oh well. "You should've been there to see it."

"Hm, wish I had been there to see it, especially since it takes about ten humans to bring one down in two hours or something whilst Mr Raiden completely annihilated one in minutes no less. Sure, he'd kinda hurt himself in process, but still..."

"Yeah, he kinda exploded upon impact. Lost an arm and leg, but at least his head and spine were intact."

"What was he thinking?"

"It's been a long time since he fought, plus his body was completely breaking down. It was amazing he could still move like that and even go into Blade Mode."

"Poor guy." Richmond was peering at him again and Raiden could now count all the wrinkles on the old man's face, "Can he hear us? Yoohoo? Mr Raiden? Anyone in there? Hello?"

Nothing happened.

He sighed. "It's no use. Only the Church of Otacon will help him now. I shall pray for him."

Now Harrie sighed. "How can you believe in that religious mumbo-jumbo, Richmond? He was not a Holy Man, but a Man of Science."

The conversation promptly ended there after Richmond shrugged. And Raiden sat in the empty cinema room, with nowhere to go, nothing to do, but then -

"Hello, Jack."

He turned to the direction of the voice to see a familiar dark-haired woman standing at the aisle dressed in a plain white v-neck top and slacks. "Rose?"

The woman smiled at him in response. "How are you feeling?"

"Rose!" He sprang up immediately in his seat in shock, eyeing her from head to toe. For a split second, he was dumbstruck, amazed and at the same time, frightened even. Something was wrong. Something was incredibly, terribly wrong. Rose was...young, the way she had looked all those years ago, when John was still a little kid and they were together as a family. He was blatantly confused, and stricken with a bout of awkwardness. "Rose, what -? What is this? Are you...?"

She shook her head, "No, Jack. This is a memory bank. Your files were sabotaged from the battle and all necessary data are currently being backed-up. Don't worry, everything will be fine. You'll be okay. Whenever you are forced into involuntarily unconsciousness, this is where your conscience will be from now on." Rose said, as she proceeded to glimpse around the dark cinema room, "It's quite fitting that your conscience recreated a memory storage that resembles a cinema."

His wife didn't have to say it, but he knew what she meant, considering all the dates they had in the cinema and all the movies they'd watched together. "What..." He was unable to meet her eye as she sidled into the row and took the seat beside him. Rose did not feel like Rose. She spoke with a coldness he was not familiar with. Although he missed her terribly, his knees suddenly went weak at the sight of his wife. He did have an urge to throw his arms around her, to hold her. Yet, even if this was a memory bank, a data storage, or a dream, whatever, he strived to keep calm and collected to his best ability - and was failing miserably.

"Jack, why won't you look at me?"

He was too ashamed to maintain eye contact. "Rose, I..."

"Doktor asked me to sign some papers in order to have it installed... it was against and without your permission and knowledge. He created an interactive AI in my image and likeness. I'm sorry I never told you." Rose said apologetically; she didn't seem to notice as to how shocked he was to see her, "It seems to have activated because of the emergency shutdown."

"...Emergency shutdown?"

"The battle was too much for you." She replied, and she averted her attention from him to the screen, where Harrie was still laboring away with sweat all over her brow and temples. He finally mustered the courage to glance at her, "Look at how hard she's working."

But he didn't care for the girl on screen who was tampering away on some random body part which, no doubt, would be for his use later on. His gaze was solely concentrated on Rose only. "Rose, I...I'm so sorry."

She turned to him again; he forced himself to hold her gaze but it was tremendously difficult. She spoke in an equally hushed murmur as though to make him feel better, "It's okay, Jack. I understand. I will always understand. You know that."

"No, not this time. I-" He faltered for a brief moment, "...I don't...I don't deserve your forgiveness; there's still so many things I wanted to say to you before I left. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, that I couldn't be there for you, and John - I never saw him go to college, I...I just left. I never told you."

"Yes, Jack, I know." She replied, and then she moved to stand again - to his dismay, "I knew it would happen one day. I was getting older and older as the years passed and you were still the same. People were talking and things got even more complicated. Jack, I forgive you..." Leaving her sentence trailing, she began to leave the row.

He pursued after her immediately, "Rose, wait, come back! Rose! Don't go!" It didn't matter if this was truly an AI or some computer software in the image of his wife, he yelled after her as loudly as he could, but she never turned round. He found himself growing desperate, belting out everything he had kept bottled up all inside for all those years, all the insecurities, the fear, the guilt... the truth. Everything was flowing out of his mouth with remote abandon. "I know what I did was selfish and stupid – but I didn't want to either! I didn't want to leave you and John! I didn't want to leave you again!"

But Rose was moving farther and farther away, his cries falling on deaf ears.

_"_Rose, don't leave! I'm sorry! Come back! Don't leave me!"

The words embarrassed him. _Don't leave me? I've left them so many times..._ He wanted to let out a bitter laugh. Now was not the time. He tried to follow her, but then there was a white light, temporarily blinding him. He winced, holding a hand to shield his eyes. The white light was intense... and when it finally faded away, Rose was nowhere to be seen. She was gone. He desperately wanted to see her again, to go home, to the world he was familiar with, but deep inside, he knew.

There was no home.  
>There was no Rose.<br>No Little John.

He was alone.

* * *

><p>Arghhh ok so I have no idea if this was in character of Raiden in this chapter, especially with the interaction between the Rose codecAI. I hope it was, and when I was writing about Harrie working I just kept picturing Tony Stark when building his Ironman suit TT_TT lol? Also, I hope this chapter sheds some insight as to what may have happened between Raiden and his family.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you those who have reviewed so far :)

I've been thinking how to approach the next chapter and realized I should've put in some more things in this chapter that will set some events in the next chapter into motion.

* * *

><p><strong>A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION<strong>

Harrie remembered that the day her parents died, she was sitting in the back of a large truck.

There was a large, sweaty man dressed in brown rags and a thin, pale and sickly-looking woman who had her eyes closed, leaning against the corner. Occasionally, she let out random fits of coughing; they sounded violent, hoarse and croaky, and full of phlegm. Opposite her, an unshaven man with crooked teeth kept staring at Harrie, grinning. In his hands, he toyed around with a blunt pocket knife. Harrie didn't know what he might had been thinking about but she didn't want to know either way. She remembered that the rest of the passengers were equally disturbing and strange and she didn't want to look at them. There were no other kids except from her. The other passengers were all the same with ashen, pasty complexions and soulless, glassy eyes. With the last of the passengers confirmed, a soldier ahead carrying a rifle and dressed in camouflage-wear, gave a signal.

The journey was quiet as the truck moved slowly through the expanse. There was not a living soul in sight, and the day was cold and dark, as the world Harrie had been born into had always been. They'd chosen dawn to evacuate, because that was when there were no machines prowling around, or so she was led to believe all those years ago. Harrie was holding a logo of the Resistance in her little cold hands, because she needed it to enter; it would guarantee her and her family entry into the refuge, the save haven. Dad didn't have one though, but he believed he could barter for one when they got there. Hopefully they would see that they were a family and did not want to get separated.

Harrie remembered her parents murmuring to each other in hushed tones, and she remembered that they were discussing over some papers they'd salvaged from their ruined home. There were several words in larger font, such as 'HOPE' and 'FUTURE OF MANKIND'. It was a blueprint, and it resembled a human being. At first, it looked like a girl but Harrie's parents kept mentioning 'he' so it was apparently a diagram of a man with fine, long blond-white hair. Harrie didn't know what they were talking about or who this man was in general nor did she know the reason why her parents were discussing about him but she remembered hearing the word 'Raiden' come up a lot of times.

"Mom, what's a Raiden?" Harrie had asked, pointing to the diagram.

Mom showed Harrie the picture so she could have a better look. "Harriet, look at this picture long and hard, okay? You might want to remember him. This is Raiden," She tells Harrie, "He is very important."

And Harrie remembered that she wanted to ask why this 'Raiden' was very important but she didn't get the chance to because from out of nowhere, a large silver canister had crashed into the middle of the truck, startling everyone. She remembered seeing a flashing red light on the side of the canister and the word 'La-li-lu-le-lo' imprinted on the side in bold black letters. The strange canister had come from the sky, and when Harrie had looked up, she remembered that she saw strange machines closing in on them a distance away.

Metal Gears.  
>Cyborgs.<p>

Harrie remembered standing amongst the dead bodies, wondering why she was the only one who had been spared. Cyborgs were known to kill every human on sight, after all. But Harrie stood, surrounded by fire and mountains of cold corpses, civilians and soldiers alike, staring down at the mangled bodies of her parents, the diagram of Raiden covered in blood and burning to a crisp. At least she'd remembered everything from that single glance.

_...hope..._

_...future of mankind..._

_...Raiden..._

That was the day Harrie made it her mission to find Raiden, no matter what.

* * *

><p><strong>PRESENT<strong>

"Harrie? Harrie!"

"Huh? What?"

"Harrie, did you hear what I said?"

"...Uh... Oh, right. Um, Ken, take the next right."

There was an annoyed grunt over the receiving end of the codec but she ignored it. Raiden said, "...Copy that."

Harrie watched the cyborg trudge through the murky waters of the flooded basement within the ruined laboratory of Maverick industries before turning the right to enter a long, moldy corridor. He was on a mission on his own since he now believed that Harrie going outside to the wide expanse by her lonesome was no longer practical or safe, so Harrie sat comfortably in her rickety chair in her dark lab, watching the screen on her computer, sipping at a juicebox that was at least a few years old. She'd deal with the diarrhoea later; for now, she had a real craving for the tasty flavor of apples and this juice was really hitting the spot.

Days ago, and Raiden had finally woke up from his coma. He woke up with a loud yell of _'ROSE!'_ that shook the walls of the lab, and Harrie had been asleep too, causing her to jerk up in her seat at the desk and almost hit her head against one of the low shelves. She had turned to him then, saw that Raiden had woken up (although he appeared to have woken up in an extremely distressed manner), and she asked him what was wrong but he had been secretive and elusive, refusing to answer.

A part of him had hoped that this had been all a crazy dream and that he'd wake up in the bed he would share with Rose. They had their fair share of bed problems – not in _that_ sense – they literally had bed problems, as in, they had problems getting a bed that would sustain Raiden's gargantuan, more than average, body weight. Every bed they'd bought out of the local furniture store and he'd broken them in half. Every mattress and he'd flattened them to the size of pancakes in days. They eventually resorted to getting a customized mattress made out of some material with a bizarre, never-heard-of-to-man name which cost a fortune. Apparently custom-made mattress manufacturers existed somewhere in America; it was a very small niche market.

But no, he woke up six weeks later to find himself in Harrie's lab, strapped to the operating table and that he was indeed hoisted upright and held down by elastic belts that resembled car seatbelts that had been securely fastened over his shoulders, chest, waist and legs. And for the next few days, the cyborg was a little mopey as Harrie carried out mandatory checks and inspections; even when Harrie explained to him about how he catapulted himself into the RAY, he was told that he killed it, but at the same time, he exploded upon impact and lost an arm and leg and fell unconscious.

"Don't do that again!" Harrie had scolded him angrily and worriedly, "What the hell were you thinking?!"

He didn't really know what he was thinking back then, it was along the lines of 'Must save Harrie by all means', and she did thank him for saving her life and later on that day of his glorious awakening, Shelly the Dwarf Gekko came down the stairs and shook his hand.

So, Harrie had built him a new body and had sent him packing him on a mission after some rounds of VR training. He didn't know what happened to his old body; it must have been tossed into a ravine somewhere. He woke up feeling not quite himself and noticed that he was no longer rusty, dirty or old. He was brand-spanking new, even with brand-new car smell thanks to those odor control things that were used to hang off interior car mirrors.

As a lot of blueprints were lost during a harsh time of war and societal collapse, Harrie's creative mind was unfortunately hindered by the lack of resources, thus it took double the time it usually took to get Raiden fixed and she ticked off her hopes in constructing for him a plasma cutter, machine gun and other commodities that he didn't exactly want since he preferred the sword and bushido ways (which Harrie said was now a lost art). In fact, all she managed to pack in was a half-working OctoCamo. She'd basically built him a new body based off of the last design Doktor had utilized, except Raiden was a slightly different color this time. He was spray-painted black to blend in with the surroundings and to be unseen by the machines. She didn't know what to do with his hair so she left it the way it was. She gave him new optical implants and also crafted him a new HF blade, in which he remembered witnessing her bludgeoning away at hot steel with a hammer at some point during his comatose state. Creating his body had not been easy; everything had to be precise, perfect in every single way to the brink that it was almost impossible...If one calculation was wrong, if one piece was one milimeter too large or too small and that was enough to throw all of Raiden's dynamics off the charts, thus to see the cyborg walking around and ninja-running all over the place with no problems at all with the new blade strapped to his back was a godsend.

"What happened to the RAY anyway?" Raiden asked, as she guided him to the direction of the store room, "Did you just leave it there?"

"No, of course not, cyborgs would've seen it. I harvested it."

"You mean...?"

"Yep." Harrie replied nonchalantly, "Your armor was directly manufactured from pieces of the RAY. It's the strongest metal that's out there these days, and I can't get access to rare materials like these so having that RAY around was actually quite handy."

Raiden sounded a little confused as he glanced down at himself; so his armor was actually recycled from the salvaged components of the RAY he'd destroyed? "How did you manage to carry all those pieces back to the lab anyway?"

"Shelly. She can carry a lot of things."

"_She_?"

"Yeah, Shelly's a girl, durrh."

"I didn't think Dwarf Gekkos would...you know, have a _gender_."

"Shelly is a girl. I checked, Ken."

Again with the 'Ken' nickname. He had no idea why she kept calling him that. "Right," came Raiden's dry reply as he stormed down the corridor, "You never told me how you got a pet Dwarf Gekko."

There was a slight pause on Harrie's end following his question. "I programmed her." She said, a few minutes after the hesitation, "She was actually trying to kill us but Richmond managed to subdue her and I reprogrammed her to help us. She's been on our side since."

"How did that work out? You switched it to neutral or something?"

"There's a certain frequency all the cyborgs are programmed to. I managed to hack into it for Shelly's case, but it keeps changing, as if it's got a mind of its own."

"What kind of frequency?" He asked, but he had to put that question on hold as soon as the corridor branched to both sides in front of him, "Okay, I'm at a crossroad; which path do I take? Left or right?"

"Left, please. Thank you." Harrie replied, and he took the left as instructed and spotted a cyborg ahead patrolling the lone corridor a distance away with his back to him. "Easy now..." She said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Make sure it doesn't see you. Don't want it alerting its cyborg buddies now, right?"

With Harrie speaking to him over the codec, it reminded him drastically of his days as a private military contractor...except he was not doing this for profit. In fact, Raiden was not earning money at all for this mission. Would there be any kind of remuneration involved? Probably not. He would have to ask Harrie later on, although he had a feeling money was not important or useful in this society. The whole reason for this mission was to grab some more materials for his body from the abandoned lab and to come back. Sneaking towards the unsuspecting cyborg, Raiden unsheathed his blade and once he finally crept towards his prey with supreme stealth, he proceeded to ram the blade into the cyborg from behind, the tip of the blade piercing through the cyborg's body and out of the chest.

"Raiden, that was..."

"What?" He said, as he pulled the blade out, swung it and blood went splashing onto the walls. The cyborg's body collapsed onto the floor, twitching slightly.

"That was unnecessary." came Harrie's flat response as she gawped at the dead cyborg.

"What were you expecting? I tickle him to death?"

"That's not what I mean." She said with a sigh, "Never mind; we have to get rid of the body before we continue."

Get rid of the body? Oh right, in case other cyborgs saw it and alerted them of his presence. He grabbed the cyborg by the legs and dumped it into a corner somewhere, then covered it with one of the many dirty rags that hung from the ceiling. He had the feeling she was perturbed by his action but what else was he supposed to do? If she had _read_ all about him, she should be aware of his past as a child soldier and all the horrors he had to endure and witness as a child. He said, "Where to?"

"Keep going straight ahead, please."

"Copy that." He replied. Once he made it to the storeroom, he saw that it was locked via a keycode and would require a four digit numerical code to be allowed entry. "What do you think it is?"

"You can use your AR display to look for prints."

Again, as instructed, he used his AR display and once all color had been filtered except from the usual darkish blue-gray and the occasional amber, he saw the numbers two, four, seven and zero covered in dirty marks. With that, he switched off the display, returning to his normal vision. "I guess this makes a pretty decent crime scene tool, huh?"

"They're not really called 'crimes' anymore, but that's because there's no more police or law, Ken."

"It must be really rough."

"Not really. People just kill and steal to get what they want now and they get away with it."

"How can you live in a time like this?"

She looked at her dirty, grubby fingernails and shrugged, "I know, it makes your time sound like the golden age."

"Trust me, Harrie, it was far from it."

"So, any ideas buzzing around in your marvelous brain about the combination?"

"I'll try them all out."

"That's a lot to go through. If I'm correct, it'll be around nine thousand. You'll be stuck there for hours."

"That's fine with me."

"That's true, you don't need to go to the bathroom or eat anymore. You don't even have to worry about personal hygiene or feeling hungry. Or peeing. How does that feel by the way?"

To humor her, he said, "Like the best feeling in the world."

"Yeah, I'll bet."

The codec banter was fun, he admitted (if not, a little bizarre), as he tried the various possible combinations. His clawed fingers were flying through all the possible codes since Harrie's upgrade meant his reflexes were as quick as lightning. His fingers were literally gliding over each button. "To be honest, it could be Doktor's birthday." He suggested.

"Do you remember his birthday?"

"...Not really." He said dryly, and she giggled, "By the way, you never told me who's behind this war."

"Well, the funny thing is, Ken...we don't really know. All we know is that whenever a cyborg sees us, they just want to kill us without hesitation."

"Could it be the Patriots?"

"I'm not sure. Guess we'll have to go find the cyborg capital and see for ourselves."

"Cyborg capital?"

"Well, all cyborgs have to go back somewhere. It's really complicated. I'll tell you more when you come back, okay?"

"Sure, and how do you know all this stuff about cyborgs and programming, anyway? Where did you learn all this stuff? Did Richmond teach you?"

"No. My parents were cyberneticists. I'm sure Richmond must've told you; they were killed by cyborgs when I was really young."

He muttered, "Sorry."

"It's okay, it happened a long time ago." She said, and the conversation ended there. It made Raiden think twice about enquiring about Harrie's past since it seemed to be a dead end to conversations...not to mention that it made Harrie uncomfortable and awkward. He inwardly wanted to kick himself for his disregard.

"...Was it already like this when you were born? With the war, the cyborgs, and the world, like this?"

"Yeah. So, er...what happened to you when you were in a coma?" Harrie asked, in an effort to turn the conversation away from herself, "Could you hear anything?"

"No," He lied, "I was just...asleep."

She nodded. "I see. That's interesting, I should note that down."

The door finally unlocked and Raiden entered the storeroom after cutting down the door with a few well-timed slashes of his blade.

"...What the hell! Why did you do that? Stop slicing up doors! What's wrong with opening it using the doorknob, geez?! You'll ruin your sword and all my hard work!"

"Sorry, force of habit." He grunted, sheathing the blade as the door fell to pieces in front of him. "So, what do you want me to take back?" He added as he stepped over the broken door, glancing around the massive room that were filled with supplies.

"Hey, what's that over there?"

"What?"

She guided him to a corner in the right where a couple of moldy cardboard boxes were propped up. "Hey, it's a lovebox!" She exclaimed, whilst he grunted under his breath. "And there's some raunchy magazines on the floor too! What do you think Doktor was up to during his time off, hm?"

Indeed there were a few adult magazines lying on the floor in a heap near the loveboxes that appeared to have preserved in good shape despite the years. Raiden hissed out, "Focus, Harrie. I'm pretty sure they're not Doktor's."

"Okay, okay...We're looking for some replenishment materials. Take some Carbon nanotube muscle fibers and biotic nanorepair paste, please. Take one lovebox too."

"What? Why?"

"You never know when we might need one."

"Are you kidding?"

"Well, it's either the lovebox or that drum can over there."

"I'd rather take the box," He uttered, as he took one cardboard box and unfolded it into a flat shape, "And what do carbon nanotube fibers and biotic repair paste look like?"

She scoffed. "It's weird how you're a cyborg but you don't even know what you look like or what you're made out of."

"Well, do you know what your brain looks like?"

"I do, actually. I've seen one before. It was really ugly, in fact; it was the most ugliest, slimiest thing I'd seen in my whole entire life." She replied, and he rolled his eyes, then listened to Harrie's instruction. "Take that one." She was saying. "No, not that one. To your right. Your other right! No, it's not that shelf! Bottom one! Yeah, that one. Take that big blue ball thingy. Take about ten, will ya?"

_Ugh, what a bossy girl,_ he thought, as he dropped the items into the backpack Harrie had supplied him with. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. There's plenty more on the grocery list." Harrie murmured, glancing at the list in her hand. "Take some of those magazines too; never know when we might have some horny cyborgs, haha."

"...You're not talking about me, are you?"

"What? No. Well, maybe, if you're kinky like that."

"...This is one weird conversation."

"I think weird conversations are the best kind of conversation there is, Ken."

After he'd collected everything, including the raunchy adult magazines as Harrie had asked, the bag was bulging. "Harrie, this thing weighs a tonne." He said, feeling the weight with one hand. He was worried the seams would've broken apart.

"Yep, thank god you're here, right? If it was me, I'd have to wheel those stuff out in a trolley. To you, that must weigh like a sack of feathers."

"It's...kinda heavy, but I can carry it."

"Great. Come back home now. That's all we need for now."

He paused. _Come back home. That's what Rose said to me. _"Copy that," Raiden muttered, slinging the bag over his shoulder. He proceeded to leave the storeroom, glancing left to right. When Harrie gave him the all clear, he began to leave the storeroom and returned to the lab front.

Mission accomplished.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

The doors to the Great Hall opened and at the doorway stood a young man adorned in exoskeleton armor that was painted a deep red and black in color; however, with each step he took, the ground quaked violently under each clawed foot. He was a cyborg, with beautiful, sharp features, a high aquiline nose and stern frown, his black hair was short, covering one glowing red eye. In his hand, he carried a glaive that was at least twice his height, with a smooth black finish and decorated with silver rings, fixed with a deadly quicksilver blade which he kept pointing towards the ground. A matching black mask covered his mouth, and he was silent as he made his way towards the throne at the end of the Hall.

A man sat on the throne, lounging leisurely. An attendant stood by his side, holding an empty tray in hand. Before the throne a distance away were a line of cowering, whimpering humans, kneeling on the cold floor and bound by shackles. There were three adult humans, two men and one woman, and there was a small child - a little boy - no older than the age of five.

"Ah," said the man who sat at the throne, "Tetsuo, you're here."

The mask pulled away from his mouth, returning to the sides of his face, "You summoned me." came the cyborg's low, gravelly voice. He averted his gaze from the shivering humans who were too afraid to look anywhere else apart from the ground below them. "How may I be of assistance, my lord?"

"A drone returned from patrol today with an interesting update." said the lord, "I'd like you to head to the human city known as '_Denver_'. One of my RAYs was last seen making rounds there. It never came back. I want to know what happened."

"Yes, sir." Tetsuo replied, "I shall head out immediately."

"Very good." said the lord.

"What should we do with the humans we found, my lord?" asked the attendant, as Tetsuo began to leave the room.

And the lord stood up in his throne, passing the humans one by one. Each step he took was equally as heavy, the ground thudding underneath his feet. "Kill them." He said, and there were howls of anguish and louder, dreary cries emitting from the humans, "Spare none."

"My lord –"

"What?"

The attendant gestured to the little boy sitting amongst the prisoners. "There is a _child_."

"Oh, right." The lord murmured; he moved closer and crouched in front of the boy, then put his hand on top of his head, ruffling the boy's dirty blond hair before pulling his hand away, "Kill them all, except the kid."


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone, sorry for the late update. I had a lot of things going on in the past few weeks :( I hope you enjoy this chapter ~

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><p><strong>IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT<strong>

Raiden returned to Harrie's shelter from his brief mission. He'd been on the lookout the entire time, cautious and wary of cyborgs and RAYs but there was none around; Richmond was right - this part of the city really was remotely safe – and as soon as the coast was clear, he'd ninja-ran all the way to safety and arrived at the base. Once he entered Harrie's bookstore front, he stopped at the bookshelf that concealed the doors leading to her lab only to overhear an interesting conversation:

"I'm thinking of going to the Resistance." It was Harrie's voice he could hear first.

And then it was Richmond's voice he could hear next: "What?! Why?"

"Because we've found Raiden." replied Harrie.

"But they...well, you know what happened last time...if you bring him, I don't know what'll happen."

"Yeah, but what if they've changed?"

There was a sigh from Richmond's end. "I don't know, but are you sure you want to go through all that again?"

"...I...I don't know, but I can't just stay here; I need to take Raiden to the Resistance. He can find out more about the war and the cyborgs. He can find out what happened to his family and friends."

"Then I'll come with you. I'll keep you safe."

"No. No, it's alright. You can't. You know what'll happen if you do...and...and I probably won't be able to protect you this time round. I don't know what they'll do to you."

"Well, what about Raiden? What difference will it make?"

"It _will_ be different this time; Richmond, stay here. You'll be safer here."

Now there was a chuckle. "You don't have to worry about me, Harrie. I'll be perfectly fine. By the way, about Raiden...***mumble mumble mumble* **When you are travelling with him, _should_ you travel with him...***mumble mumble* **I don't want you staying in caves or sharing rooms together."

"What! But Raiden saved my life-"

"I mean the ***mumble*** Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ***mumble mumble***."

"Yeah, I know all about that. I get night terrors too. We can have night terrors together. I'm not afraid."

"***mumble mumble* **It doesn't matter, it won't be safe ***mumble*** he can't stay in a room or the same cave with you."

"It's fine, Richmond, honestly. You are such a drama queen."

"***mumble* **But you're a girl ***mumble mumble*** and ***mumble*** no crotch, but he's still a guy."

Despite Richmond's employment of hushed tone and the mumblings, Raiden heard the majority of the entire discussion, or at least, the focal points. It was still rather embarrassing to have overheard such a conversation... Controversial and ego-bruising to say the least (with regards to the apparent absence of his crotch). He tried not to wince and let out a heavy sigh, shifting slightly in his spot at the awkward situation he'd unwittingly found himself in, and a few moments later, he heard the doors open and saw the bookcase moving; Richmond had been heading up the stairs and Raiden stood stiffly at the entrance.

"Raiden!" Richmond exclaimed as the cyborg stood, immobilized for a brief moment, "You're back."

"...Yeah." grunted the cyborg, dumping the bag of salvaged goods onto the floor of the deserted bookshop; he wondered if he should tell him he'd eavesdropped on the conversation. Probably not.

"Oh, hey, Ken, you're back!" Now he could see Harrie fumbling up the stairs after the old man; she climbed out of the basement stairs and spotted Raiden's bag on the floor. "Alright, you got everything. Great work!" She let out a cackle of glee and dived for the bag in minutes, opening it with little care before rifling through excitedly. Richmond and Raiden watched on silently with intrigue; in Raiden;s eyes, Harrie resembled a kid at Christmas.

Raiden crossed his arms as Harrie excitedly dug through the bag, pulling out various of the strange materials she'd forced him to take; Richmond patted his shoulder heartily as he stopped beside him.

"Thank you for helping us, Mr Raiden." said Richmond as he began to waddle out of the bookstore. "We really appreciate the extra help."

Harrie didn't even bother to glance up from the bag she'd been rummaging around in, "Hey Richmond, didn't you want Ken to help you out with some stuff, too?"

"Hm? Oh, right...well, only if Mr Raiden has time to help-"

"Of course he does." Harrie said absent-mindedly as she went through the salvaged goodies; Richmond threw Raiden a hopeful, almost wistful look, and the cyborg could do nothing but comply.

"What would you like me to help you with?" Raiden asked; he did not mind lending a hand. With only Richmond and Harrie here, he often wondered how they got around. They must've struggled. Having Raiden here must have made their lives a lot easier. Aside from several VR training missions, Raiden had also assisted in some menial repairs, minor plumbing work and other physical labor that usually Richmond took care of.

The old man was smiling widely at Raiden's offer. "Excellent! Mr Raiden, please come with me." Leaving Harrie to retreat to her lab with her new goodies, Richmond left the bookstore and the cyborg followed suit.

Outside, and Richmond went hobbling towards a vehicle that the cyborg hadn't noticed before that was parked beside a ruined sidewalk. Richmond fumbled in his pockets and took out a key, which he jammed into the vehicle's rusty slot on one of the doors. The vehicle door hissed open weakly and Richmond slid inside. "Did you see any cyborgs outside?"

"Nope."

"Alright, then let's go, Mr Raiden. Don't worry, we'll be quick."

"Where are we going?" He asked as he took the passenger seat; it was amazing this 'car' could accommodate his weight. Raiden closed the door behind him and Richmond switched the engine on; the vehicle went into a rumbling start before the old man began to steer the vehicle out and into the ruined road.

"There's a warehouse ahead. It's where I get food and drink. We've run out." Richmond said, driving the car slowly over the rubble and pebbly road; the car went bouncing but he didn't seem to notice while Raiden had to hold onto the seat, "It's not too far away; usually I walk but I thought I'd take the car so we could carry more."

_Looks like they hadn't found another futuristic word for 'car' yet. _Raiden thought, as Richmond steered them out of the base and into the expanse.

"We're here." Richmond said, pulling up near the entrance. The old man switched the engine off and they both climbed out of the car. Raiden glanced around at the dilapidated building only to realize it was just a rundown supermarket and as Richmond began hobbling up to the doors, he proceeded to follow the old man into the building. There were trolleys lying around over the ground and pushed against one wall of the market recklessly. Shards of glass littered the floor. The automated glass doors didn't open as they approached, instead, Raiden entered by stepping over the gaps in the door where sharp glass shards poked out. The smooth floor of the market's entrance was covered in substance that appeared to be dried blood.

It was indeed a supermarket, although it was despairingly empty even though Raiden had been given the impression that it was supposed to be overflowing with goods. He watched Richmond ignore the vegetables and fruit section before wandering up to one of the shelves and pull out some tinned cans. The old man plunged a hand into his pockets and pulled out a pair of old glasses, then proceeded to ogle at the expiry date on the side of the can.

"Mr Raiden, can you bring a basket over please?"

"When was the last time you ate something fresh?" Raiden asked, as he handed Richmond a basket he'd seized from one of the stands; the old man proceeded to dump a can inside.

"Huh? Oh...hm...I don't really remember." mumbled the old man as he emptied more cans into the basket, which Raiden found ironic, since all the paying lanes were empty and the cash registers were not even working properly. Richmond quickly made short work of the supermarket, since most of the food were either expired or rotting and by then, he'd only salvaged a total of eight cans.

Raiden looked at the contents of the basket. "That's only enough food for one person; it won't last a week."

"I know." Richmond said, "They're for Harrie."

"...What about yourself?"

"I'll be fine. I'm old. I don't need to eat as much as I used to. I can't even taste anymore. Harrie's young and still growing. She's like a skeleton. She needs to eat more."

"And when was the last time you ate a proper meal?"

With that, Richmond shrugged, but smiled jovially regardless. "When you go to the Resistance, there'll be a lot of food there, oh yes, They hold big feasts all the time."

"Really?" He didn't exactly believe that statement. Since Richmond had mentioned the Resistance, Raiden thought now was a good time to talk about it. "And where are they based?"

"Idaho. There's a military faction, and the Church of Otacon is there too."

He remembered Richmond mentioning this when he was in a coma. "...Church of Otacon?" Again, now seemed like another good time to ask.

"Yes, I pray occasionally. I always pray to the Holy Saint, _Otacon_, to look after Harrie and you too, Mr Raiden, on your holy mission to purge the world of evil cyborgs. I pray to him to lend you his strength and to watch over you."

Raiden stared at Richmond, hard. "You can't be serious. _Holy Saint_?"

"Oh yes, Holy Saint Otacon of all things good and holy and non-machina."

The cyborg almost choked on his own artificial spit. "What?" He croaked out; he had heard this the last time, too. At first, he thought it was a joke... Raiden struggled hard not to let out a snigger. He didn't know if he should say anything. "So... why do you worship Otacon?" Raiden asked, before he scratched at the back of his head awkwardly, "Otacon was...well, uh..."

"Hm? What about our Holy Patron?"

"...Never mind." He replied flatly. Richmond shrugged but said nothing. And now would be a good time to change the subject. It was just too bizarre for Raiden's liking. "Harrie said no-one knows who's behind the war."

"Yes, that's true. A long time ago, cyborgs and humans were at peace. It was only the last century or so when cyborgs had fiercely begun to attack humans, overpowering them and eventually committing mass genocide. No-one knows when it really started or who started it. If it's something you should know, Mr Raiden, is there are three types of cyborgs."

"Three types?"

"Yes. The first is 'full', or 'complete' cyborgs – those whose bodies have been completely mechanized with little organic or human component left behind, like yourself, Mr Raiden. They are no longer human and are the strongest type of cyborgs that can be encountered."

"And what's the second type?"

"Hybrids."

"_Hybrids_?"

"Yes, hybrids are...humans with minor enhancements, their bodies mechanized in an insignificant manner, such as, for example, they've had a missing limb replaced with a prosthetic one, or they've received implants, things like that. The third and last type are Metal Gears, both manned or unmanned. We've categorized them as 'cyborgs', since technically the cyborgs have seized control of all robots and whatever gadget that is out these days." Richmond replied, "You see, when I found Harrie all those years ago, she was only about six years old. Even then, I knew she was different than other children. She was very intelligent and possessed extensive knowledge of cyborgs beyond her years. I never knew her parents, but she told me they were cyberneticists. I'm sure they would be very proud of her."

"What was she like when she was younger?" Raiden asked as he continued to follow Richmond down the aisles. They'd passed the meat section (which smelled dreadful), then they passed the frozen goods aisle and the sauces, but Richmond picked nothing up until they arrived at the liquor aisle which was almost half-empty.

"Well, when we were captured... I mean, we were captured by cyborgs and put into this prison...and when I met her, she was...quiet. It took her a long time until she finally opened up and began speaking. She witnessed something extremely traumatizing. She would always look at me with this solemn, serious expression. And this was when she was only six years old. Now she hardly stops talking, haha." Richmond said, walking up to one shelf and pulling out a six-pack of beers.

Raiden wasn't sure whether he should laugh or not.

"Also...Harrie's always been smiling since she found you." Richmond mused, smiling to himself contentedly. "I've never seen her so happy before. It's nice. However, I do apologize about Harrie's behaviour. Forgive me, I've spoiled her so much. She gets her way too often. It's not that she doesn't care. She does, she does care. I know for a fact that she cares a lot about you."

_Yeah, I get the feeling too, _he thought. "No need to apologize." He muttered, "How did you escape?"

"I don't remember much. It was a long time ago." Richmond dumped the multipack of cans inside the basket without little care, "If it's not too much to ask...I would like you to take Harrie to the Resistance. You must realize by now, Mr Raiden, that this city is no place for Harrie, not forever. She's still young, but she needs to go to a place with a greater populace than this, to be back within general civilization. The Resistance will welcome her and she can meet more people there. She can live a better, happier life. There's nothing out here in Denver. I haven't seen a single soul pass by and it's been years. There is no future for her if she continues to stay here."

Raiden watched him steely, then said, "...Aren't you going to come to the Resistance?"

"No. If I leave, go out into the wilderness, I won't make it. My leg's useless and well...I'm old. I'll just drag you down. On the other hand, now that you're here, I feel so much at ease now. I can rest happy. I've decided to just stay here and live. I trust you; I trust you to look after Harrie." Richmond said. Again, this served to surprise the cyborg to a certain extent since he recalled the conversation he'd overheard that occurred between Richmond and Harrie. "From what's happened since your arrival and the defeat of the RAY at your hands...I know that you can...you can _protect_ Harrie, Mr Raiden, therefore I trust you."

"Yeah, well..." Raiden muttered, glancing off to the side, "Sometimes I don't even trust myself."

"Well, we trust you more than you trust yourself." Richmond said, emitting a light-hearted laugh, "And I think that's much better, don't you think?"

...

**MEANWHILE**

Harrie glanced up and away from her notepad; she had been scribbling down some notes about the outcome of Raiden's missions and training she'd put him through. She couldn't help but laugh as she recalled some of the interesting codec conversations they'd had over the past few days since he'd woken up and she had been jotting down his overall progress but somehow the standard report seemed to have strayed to something else, something deeper, since she noticed she'd suddenly doodled a loveheart around his name.

At first, she stared hard and wide-eyed at what she had just done, her jaw dropped and the pencil rolled out of her limp hand. Then she tore the paper out before scrunching it into a ball and threw it onto the floor. Where had that even come from? She sat in her seat, placing a clenched fist over her chest. Even thinking about the cyborg for a fraction of a second had caused her heart to pound a little faster than usual and her cheeks were feeling warmer than usual, too. She was confused. When did this happen? When did this begin? She hadn't noticed it until now...

_Uhnhh...uh, no, what am I doing? What's going on?_

Raiden was a married man. He even had a child. It wouldn't be right. To even _think _about it was despicable.

"No, no, nooo..." She chided herself, clamping both hands over the sides of her head and shaking to and fro, "No, stop it, no..."

...

Tetsuo finally arrived at the human city known as Denver after a six hour journey without a single break, and gradually came to a stop on his bike.

He climbed off after he removed his helmet, setting his feet on the ground, and from the side of his bike, he lifted up his glaive and unfolded it to its usual length. With glaive in hand, he scoured the landscape before him. He had never been to Denver before but it looked like the other cities he'd been to. The city, like many others, appeared to be deserted. His sensors did not pick up anything; there was nothing warm or cold blooded nearby. He'd searched the expanse before but all he found was remnants of the missing RAY buried and shoved into a ditch and he grew suspicious, as he could tell that it'd been stripped of its outer shell, all armor stripped and removed. Whatever did that was not on their side that was for sure, which only meant...

There were humans here.

And it was up to Tetsuo to eliminate them.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey, thank you so much for the reviews! Sorry I haven't updated for soooo long. I haven't forgotten this fic but it's taking me a long time to write. This chapter was no exception, but I kinda gave up because of the action involved. There's too much. Again, apologies in advance for any OOC. Please do enjoy though.

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><p><strong>A LOSS<strong>

_THUD._

Harrie stopped in her work and pulled up her goggles to rest atop her head, glancing around her lab curiously.

_THUD._

Could Richmond be back? Raiden? No, the steps were too far apart, indicating that whoever was walking upstairs was far heavier in mass than Raiden, so it couldn't be the cyborg. Immediately, she moved from her desk, moved away from the OctoCamo she had been trying to work on and tiptoed to the operating table, looking up inquisitively at the ceiling where the hanging lamp was.

_THUD._

Some dust fell off and floated over the metal surface. Harrie retreated and tiptoed over to the exit of her lab. Shelly had been lying on the bed and sprang up, alarmed, but Harrie put a finger to her lips. The Dwarf Gekko remained still and silent as Harrie slowly inched up the stairs towards the closed doors, peering through the tiny gap. She could see a tall black figure with its back to her, flipping through a few books before tossing them to the floor, and her eyes widened. A cyborg. It really was a cyborg. She realized that ever since they'd found Raiden, they'd seen increased cyborg movement around the area, and now one was actually inside the bookstore. Could they have found out that she had discovered Raiden? Swallowing down the growing lump in her throat, Harrie backed away slowly down the stairs. The stair creaked.

And that was when the cyborg turned round.

Harrie slammed her hands over her mouth to withhold the gasp that threatened to escape her mouth, cold sweat dripping down her forehead. The cyborg was a man with black hair and a black mask covering his mouth, red, piercing, glowing eyes fixated at her direction. Immediately, she ran down the stairs just as she heard a violent crash and she screamed when the doors to her lab were ripped open and there stood the cyborg. Shelly leapt from the bed and was at Harrie's side in minutes, although it had run behind her legs, shaking. Harrie stared at the cyborg, frozen in her tracks. And at first, the cyborg merely stared at her with those terrible blood red eyes of his and Harrie didn't know where to run; however, she did run to one side of the lab but he was quicker. Harrie found her legs leaving the ground and the cyborg had grabbed her by the back of her neck. She cried out in pain, as the cyborg slammed her against the wall of her lab. The desk beside her shook fiercely, papers falling off. She choked and coughed out, trying to pry at his clenched fingers on her neck.

"...W-who are you? What do you want from me?"

"Your questions are irrelevant. I will not answer." muttered the cyborg, but then he went quiet for a few seconds and his eyes glassed over and she knew he was running her file through his database. Finally, after a brief wait, the color to his eyes returned and he added, "...Death is not conclusive. Data must be extracted."

"W-what..."

"Quiet, human." He lifted his freed hand and Harrie stared as the top portion of his thumb suddenly flipped up, exposing a black metal chip within. His index finger revealed a sharp needle, the other finger was hiding what looked like a scalpel. Her eyes widened and she struggled against his grip as aggressively as she could.

"No, stop! Nooo!" She wailed, as he neared her with the chip, but then -

The forgotten Shelly, let out a cry and came springing forwards at the cyborg in a bid to stop him.

"Shelly, no!" Harrie yelped.

The cyborg did not even bother to glance over his shoulder, as though he'd anticipated the Dwarf Gekko. Then there was a flash of quicksilver and Harrie stared wide-eyed over the cyborg's shoulder as two little globular halves went flying through the air. The cyborg retreated his hand which he'd just used to slice the little machine in half, arms flying. He caught one limp black arm in progress. Another eyebrow rose, before his gaze landed on Harrie.

In seconds, his fist clenched tightly over the arm, the metal crunching and twisting under his sheer grip.

"No!" Harrie screamed, as he tossed the broken limb away.

"Anything else you have up your sleeve, human?" The cyborg muttered, his voice was a deep and low rumble. Stunned and frightened, Harrie couldn't move. The cyborg smirked behind his mask. "Then...let us begin the process."

...

_Beep beep beep._

"Hm?" Richmond glanced down at himself and delved a hand into one of the tatty pockets of his trenchcoat, before pulling out a small device that was flashing red.

"What's that?" Raiden asked; they'd left the supermarket, with the cyborg carrying the salvaged groceries whilst Richmond stood beside the door of the driver's seat.

Richmond glanced up at him and shoved the device back into his pocket. "Trouble." He murmured, before he opened the door and slid inside. "Come on, let's go."

"Trouble?" Raiden climbed into the car beside Richmond who started the car all at once. Without even waiting if the cyborg had properly seated himself in, Richmond had shoved his foot over the accelerator and the car was hurtling down the expanse. "Is it Harrie?"

"Yeah. My apologies, Mr Raiden, but we've no time to lose!" Richmond exclaimed; without any humans or cars or general traffic around, they'd arrived at the base easily in minutes.

...

They entered Harrie's lab only to see a giant black figure holding Harrie up by the throat whilst his other hand was holding a long glaive. A cyborg. This would be the first time Raiden would've seen another cyborg the first time since he woke up. He was a young man, with short black hair and piercing red eyes, clad in sleek, jet-black armor that covered his entire body. He wouldn't have known this was a cyborg until the man turned to face them, his eyes glowing with a red tint, indicating optical implants. On the other hand, Harrie was struggling aggressively against the cyborg but to no avail, her fingers clawing at the metal fingers that were gripping her throat so tightly. Once Richmond and Raiden had arrived – the old man was the first to make a move forwards but Raiden was faster and had already thrown himself at the cyborg.

"Let her go!" Raiden yelled, tackling the cyborg to the ground, glaive dropping out of hand.

Richmond watched the two cyborgs as they went barreling to the far wall; no doubt, a fight would ensue. Harrie dropped to the floor once her assailant was taken care of thanks to Raiden's risky maneuver, choking and coughing. "Harrie!" Richmond cried, running over to the fallen girl.

"...R...Richmond..." She croaked out; the corner of her mouth was dripping with blood.

"Harrie, are you hurt?"

"I-" She was interrupted by a loud crash caused by the cyborg in black throwing Raiden into Harrie's bed, breaking the frame in progress. Raiden got up clumsily, only for the cyborg to come lunging at him.

"Get her out of here! I'll deal with this!" Raiden shouted, glancing at the two as the cyborg whaled blows on him.

Richmond nodded, picking Harrie up and hurrying up the stairs. "Wait!" Harrie yelped, but Richmond had already escorted her out of the lab safely.

The cyborg in black made a move to chase after them but Raiden was quick; he delivered a sweeping kick to the back of his legs and the cyborg went stumbling to the ground; Raiden got up, just as the other cyborg shot upwards to his feet before moving into a defensive stance with his glaive.

The lab went silent as both stared the other down.

Raiden watched the cyborg in return steely; they circled each other for a while, as though waiting for someone to make the first move. Raiden was unarmed, but he spied a spare, completed HF blade standing in the corner next to a few spares that were yet to be fixed properly; Harrie must've left them there, to be completed at a later date. If he was quick enough, he could dive for it and use it. As though reading his mind, the cyborg in black with the red glowing eyes also shifted his gaze to the blades in the corner, before they flitted back to Raiden in a split second. Something told him this cyborg wasn't like the other cyborgs he'd faced before. Unlike the bloodthirsty Sundowner who'd slaughtered N'mani before his very eyes, this cyborg had hurt Harrie but hadn't killed her. Perhaps they'd come just in time. This meant he could still draw the attention of the cyborg from Harrie and Richmond and ensure their escape.

"Ah. Raiden." murmured the cyborg, "So the stories are true."

"What stories?"

"That you exist. Here you are, standing before me. You are not fiction after all."

He was a little tired of people and cyborgs alike treating him like a mythical creature. "Who the hell are you?" Raiden demanded. _I need to make sure Richmond gets Harrie to a safer place. I need to buy them time..._

"I am General Tetsuo." said the cyborg in black. His voice was intimidating, low and gravelly, contrasting heavily with his young appearance.

"And why are you here?"

"I came for the human."

In response, Raiden threw his fist at him threateningly, "Not on my watch!" And with that, he dived for the blade just as Tetsuo thrust his glaive at his direction. He caught it just in time, swinging the HF blade forwards, steel clashing with steel.

...

Outside the bookstore, Richmond lay Harrie on the ground as gently as he could. "Harrie! Are you okay?"

She opened her eyes weakly, "He...he..." She mumbled, clutching at the back of her neck whilst groaning limply, "Unhh..."

As Harrie struggled to talk, Richmond lifted her hand off her neck, noticing that it was drenched in blood. He turned her round to see that there was a little black square on her neck. A chip. It seemed to have a counter, tiny red numbers ticking down. His eyes widened and he glanced at her questioningly; Harrie took his hand and moved it from her neck, shaking her head.

"Don't mind me..." She said feebly, "Raiden...you have to help Raiden...he can't beat that cyborg...he's too strong..."

...

The battle raged on.

Both were exchanging blows with matching strength, but the cyborg in black was still a hell lot stronger than Raiden – he had managed to parry and counter most of the attacks and finally sent the glaive spinning out of the cyborg's hands and clattering to the floor, then he had grabbed the cyborg around the head but the cyborg was delivering punches to Raiden's gut, causing him to loosen his hold. He released the cyborg a few moments later, rubbing at his ribs where it was scorching hot from the sheer brutal violence of the blows; during this brief distraction, Tetsuo delivered an uppercut to Raiden's jaw, causing the cyborg to stumble slightly.

"Hmph. Your fighting is below subpar. Clumsy. Messy. Your technique is unrefined. Imperfect. Time must have taken a toll on you. Yet here I thought you were legendary, but the stories were wrong. A child soldier born and bred for battle? You are nothing-" Tetsuo paused to grab Raiden by the chest and lifted him into the air before throwing him into another wall of Harrie's lab, causing the lab to shake once again and Raiden landed on Harrie's desk, breaking it in progress, "-but a _weakling_!"

Raiden attempted to gather himself up only for Tetsuo to come and kick him heftily in the ribs. He tried to get up but found he couldn't; he didn't think he could take any more for longer. Harrie's upgrades meant he was stronger, yes, but he hadn't fought against an opponent for such a long time, especially one like this cyborg who had supreme AI and strength. One clawed hand grabbed him by hair, lifting him up so he was face to face with the young cyborg who had one clenched fist pulled backwards, ready to smash into Raiden's face. Before he'd let that happen, however, Raiden did the first thing that came to mind and rammed his head forwards against the cyborg, causing him to lose grip and stumble backwards, having been taken by surprise by Raiden's assault. However, just as it had made the cyborg take two steps back, Tetsuo was back on track and smashing his fists against Raiden's chest. Raiden, dizzy and fatigued, took the attacks without being able to defend. He went flying into Harrie's shelves, breaking those too.

Tetsuo grabbed him; this time, he'd fought viciously enough that he was stuck in the cyborg's deathgrip, with his back to Tetsuo's chest. They struggled furiously to gain the upperhand, knocking over more furniture and creating more holes in the wall. It was then, he realized, that he had never been a strong fighter. Don't get him wrong, he had been strong, but in battle...he would always get himself in situations like these. If only Snake was here, things might be different. Snake would've been able to motivate him, to encourage him. But it was also not because Raiden had no motivation or encouragement to fight.

Raiden was just...Raiden.

He lost to Vamp once. He had been strung up and stabbed by the maniac, and in their bloodthirsty duel, it ended with Raiden thrusting his sword through both of their bodies as he'd seen no way out. He tried to stop a massive warship once too, and ended up stabbing the sword through his foot just to act as a stopper. Of course, the ship still went down anyway, taking him with it. Again, Raiden just being Raiden.

His eyes strayed to the blade. It was waving around fruitlessly in one clawed hand; he wondered if he should do the same thing. A sacrifice, although Raiden wondered if he would survive, and if he would destroy Tetsuo in process. Will it have the same effect? Will it stop this cyborg? Or maybe he should let Jack let 'er rip? What will happen then? What if he went berserk and went after Richmond and Harrie, too? Without a second to spare, Raiden turned the HF blade, the tip pointing at himself.

"What are you doing?!" He could hear Tetsuo exclaiming.

Raiden stared down at the blade; at the same time, he was struggling mentally. Jack was fighting to get out. Jack was screaming and yelling, throwing himself against the barricade in his mind, wanting to be let out. He could hear him shouting, screaming, and laughing. Funny how out of all the people left behind, Jack was still with him, even here and now, alive and well.

_What's the matter, Jacky-boy? You can't win this without me! You know that!_

**_No! Stay back!_**

_I want his blood on our blade! His head on the floor! His body desiccated and in pieces! You can't stop me! You know you want this too!_

**_No! I can stop you, I can-_**

_Let me out! LET ME OUT!_

He managed to suppress Jack before. He could do it again. But then, Rose was with him. She was the one who could stop Jack, not him. She would tell him words of encouragement and she would always reassure him. He tried hard to concentrate on her, on Rose's loving smile, her eyes curling with happiness. He realized it was difficult to picture her, it was though she was slowly waning away from his mind. No, this was not good. Jack would end up coming out if he could not recall -

Without wanting to delay anymore, Raiden rammed the blade into his gut, stabbing through Tetsuo in process.

"Graaah!" The cyborg behind him roared, and Raiden continued to feed the blade into his body, shoving it as it could go into himself that only the hilt was sticking out of his chest.

"If I'm takin' you down...you're going down with me, you bastard..." Raiden grunted out.

Tetsuo began to push Raiden off him, the blade scraping within them as they separated. Raiden let out a cry as Tetsuo shoved him away, clutching at the gaping wound in his chest, white blood leaking out of his damaged chest plate. Raiden, still with the blade lodged fast in his chest, toppled to the ground just to see Tetsuo making his way towards him, his expression full of rage.

"You made me bleed." Tetsuo snarled as he took a step towards him, grabbing his glaive and lifting it above Raiden's head; he was going to finish him, execution style. His eyes narrowed immediately; _it didn't work? _But then -

"Raiden!"

Richmond was charging towards them. _No...no, what are you doing? Stop!_ But to his utmost surprise, Richmond was holding Tetsuo back now, in the same fashion much like the way Tetsuo had restrained Raiden. "Let go!" Tetsuo was yelling, fighting angrily against him "Let me go!"

But Richmond was watching Raiden, smiling. "It's okay, Mr Raiden." He was saying, "You're not alone. You're not alone in this. And you don't need Jack. Don't listen to him. I'm here. So is Harrie. We're here for you. I'm sorry we didn't tell you before. I'm sorry we lied."

"...What do you mean...?"

"Come on now, Raiden, can't you see what I'm doing here?"

It was then Raiden realized the old man was actually holding Tetsuo back. He was _holding _a cyborg back. His eyes widened. "Richmond...you're..."

He nodded. "That's right. I'm a cyborg, just like you."

Raiden spluttered out, "What...?!"

Yet Richmond held on as Tetsuo continued to struggle, and let go with one hand to press at something on the side of his neck, Raiden thought he'd heard something like a timer ticking, before Richmond continued to yell out, "There's something you have to know about the cyborgs of this time. They don't go down so easily. I want you to run, Mr Raiden! Take Harrie and get away from here as far as you can! Don't look back! There is no coming back from this!"

He shook his head furiously, "No, wait! Don't do this, Richmond!"

Smiling gently now, Richmond's voice lowered and he murmured, "...Promise me, Raiden...Take care of her for me, will you?"

...


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Richmond's identity as a cyborg was a real shocker, eh? lol. There were little hints indicating that Richmond was a little more than human, however.

**Here were the hints that Richmond was a cyborg throughout the past few chapters:**

1. When Richmond and Raiden go to the supermarket, Raiden points out that Richmond only took food enough for one person even though Richmond says that he is old and doesn't need to eat so much

2. The conversation Raiden overhears between Richmond and Harrie in which Harrie states that Richmond should stay in Denver because she wouldn't be able to 'protect him' from the Resistance

3. When Richmond and Raiden return to the base to see Harrie attacked by Tetsuo; after Richmond takes Harrie away to safety, Tetsuo specifically tells Raiden: "I came for the human" (and not "humans")

**And here were the not so subtle hints: **

1. Richmond tried to go and defeat the RAY, but is stopped by Raiden

2. Richmond is never seen eating or drinking (to be fair I never wrote about Richmond eating or drinking)

3. When Raiden asks Harrie how she managed to carry all the parts of the RAY to the base, she tells him Shelly carried all the parts but in reality it wouldn't really be believable

4. Richmond drives a car that can sustain the weight of a cyborg

5. Richmond helped Harrie escape from the prison they were held captive

* * *

><p><strong>RULES OF NATURE<strong>

_"What's your name?"_

_"Harrie."_

_"Isn't that a boy's name?"_

_"It's actually Harriet, but my parents didn't call me that."_

_"Where are your parents?"_

_"Dead."_

_"What happened?"_

_"The cyborgs killed them. What's your name?"_

_"My name?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"IF-HM-38d."_

_"...What did they used to call you?"_

_"Edgar. Edgar Richmond."_

...

The timer was counting down rapidly, now it was at 5.

It was funny how Richmond was recalling the first time he met Harrie. He guessed one's life truly did flash in front of one's eyes before death. Here he was, remembering that dark and dank cell where he met the girl; she had been put into a cell with him, where he lay deactivated and useless...but then he suddenly found himself alive and realized that she had woken him up, using only with her hands and her knowledge. Harrie was only six years old then but wiser beyond her years, and wiser than any children he'd come across before in his life. All in all, he knew she had only done the deed because she needed to escape the prison they were held in and getting out wouldn't be easy, not on her own, and not with the many cyborgs patrolling the area. Richmond could. He didn't mind complying. He still had a bit of a fight inside him, and he was strong. Since then, they'd agreed to some kind of alliance with each other. A mutual understanding.

_Not all cyborgs are evil._

**4...**

It grew stronger over the years. Richmond began to care for the human, not that he didn't know how to care about humans before. When he was human, he had a family. He had a home and a job. He had a wife and a kid. Just like Raiden. He couldn't remember much of his past but there was the slightest, fleeting sensation that told him that he had been a happy man; he couldn't remember what happened to them and he never did see them again. Hell, he couldn't even remember how he became a cyborg in the first place. He just knew that deep inside, under that metal chestplate and the ribs, was the fragile, still-warm, beating heart belonging to that of a human. He came to grew attached to Harrie, who still had much to accomplish and now Raiden was here, he was relieved to finally realize that she now had a way out to a better life.

**3...**

_Raiden will take care of her._

His lips curled into a small smile as he pondered. He was feeling...content. He glanced around the destroyed lab, still with the struggling cyborg in his grip.

_I've lived a long life. I've lived a happy life caring for Harrie. I've taken care of her and now she's ready._

_All good things must come to an end._

**2...**

The smile dropped.

**1...**

_...I wish I could see my wife again. I wish I could see-_

* * *

><p>Harrie watched the entrance of the bookstore with baited breath.<p>

A lone figure soon emerged from the darkness, running towards her.

Immediately, she tensed up, glancing over worriedly and nervously. Who was it? Richmond? Raiden...? That cyborg in black? Harrie's eyes widened when she saw Raiden heading towards her direction and her breath stilled. She was relieved to see him, but she glanced over, hoping to see another person following after him. Raiden finally stopped by her side, crouching down to her level before he scooped her into his arms; he was in bad shape. The battle must've been hard. He'd taken quite the beating. It would take some time for Raiden to adjust to the battlefield once again, despite the VR training. VR training was VR training, after all. It wasn't real. This was.

"We need to go." He muttered hastily under his breath.

She looked up at him, puzzled, as he began to carry her out of the base and towards the direction of the plains, then she quickly glimpsed over to the bookstore door again. No-one came out. "Where's Richmond?" She grabbed him by the arm as he dashed away from the base. "_Where's Richmond?_"

"He-"

The hand on his arm tightened in grip and Harrie began thrashing in his hold, "Go back! Go back! I'm not leaving Richmond behind! I-"

She was interrupted by a loud but muffled explosion that made the ground quake violently and Raiden was thrown off his feet; he stumbled to the ground with Harrie in his arms, but this time, he managed to grab her before she fell and he toppled to the ground first on his back; she landed on top of him and he brought his arms around her protectively, shielding Harrie from impact. When the ground finally stopped trembling, Harrie lifted herself up, glanced at Raiden, then hurriedly scrambled out of his grip. Dazedly, she swayed slightly on the spot, clutching at her bleeding neck. Raiden watched; sensing that she knew precisely what had happened, judging by how pale she had become.

"Richmond," She croaked out wobbly, before she screamed, "_Richmond!_"

"Harrie!" Raiden called after her, as she ran back towards the direction of the base. No use. She had ignored him, sprinting towards the bookstore as quickly as she could. He decided it would be best if he followed her.

They arrived at the bookstore once again, which resembled one of the many demolished buildings surrounding the landscape. Thick, heavy black smoke was emitting from the doorway. He saw her make one move towards the desecrated bookstore and quickly jumped in to stop her. There was no way he would allow her in, not with all the smoke and fire. She would die.

Harrie struggled feebly against his inhuman strength. "_Richmond!_" She wailed, "Raiden, let go! Let go of me! I have to get to Richmond!"

"You can't go in there!" He asserted, trying to stop her from entering the destroyed lab.

She was fighting him viciously, "But I can fix him! I can save him! I'm going to rebuild him, just like I did all those years ago – I'm going to fix him and he's gonna be okay and he'll be back to normal! Raiden, let me go, please – !"

"Harrie!" He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, facing her directly. She stopped screaming all at once and stared up at him. Thick tears were rolling down her eyes uncontrollably. It'd been some time he'd seen someone cry. He wasn't quite sure what to do. "Harrie..."

She shoved his hands off her and turned to the side, away from him. This time, Raiden did nothing except remain silent amidst her grief.

He watched her rush to one of the small alleyways beside the bookstore that was still intact, rifling through discarded materials that were all piled into in a heap. She was constantly wiping her tears away with the back of her hand as she began ploughing her hands through the junk, sifting through pieces of scrap metal, "I can do this. I can do this - I just n-need a...a...bio...b...um...biometric...er..." Amidst her panic and despair, she found her mind a state of disarray, "Shelly, help! Help me-" She turned round sharply only to see Raiden, who was staring at her. Immediately, Harrie went still and silent. Completely silent.

Slowly, the girl moved away from the heap. He had never seen someone look so defeated in his entire life; he watched her slump on her spot, her knees hitting the ground, shoulders sagging before she broke down. It was identical to seeing a child cry. He noticed she cried the same way Little John did, like when he scraped his knee on playground tarmac. A _child_. But deep inside, he realized the sorrow was more profound than the scraping of one's knee. It unnerved him.

Taking a wary step forwards, he moved closer. Even when Rose cried, he barely knew what to do. When he cried, he couldn't even stop or control himself on some occasions, and he didn't know what to do then, but he knew that when he cried, it made him feel better when someone comforted him, either with words of wisdom or physical contact, with the former coming from Snake, the latter from Rose. With Harrie, he didn't know what to do. He found himself squatting down beside her, then slowly moved his arm, reaching for her. Before he reached her, however, he had the desire to pull back. Being comforting wasn't really his forte, no...Slicing and dicing cyborgs and other enemies without batting an eyelid, yes.

When his hand finally plopped on her shoulder, he quickly pulled away once he'd made contact with her, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. He'd never _touched_ Harrie before (there wasn't much need or a desire to), but when he put his cyborg hand on her shoulder...even though the contact lasted only a second, he noticed just how small and soft she was. He decided he'd let her cry, awkwardly placing his hand on her shoulder again. This time, he forced himself to let it stay there for more than one minute.

"...Richmond asked me to take care of you." He muttered, with his clawed hand perched on her shoulder. "You're, uh...you're bleeding. Your neck-" He made a little gesture to his own neck but she did nothing. He had no idea what that little black square was, but it seemed to be stuck fast. When Harrie said nothing in response, he added, "I'll take you to the Resistance."

To his surprise, she finally responded and shook her head; she wouldn't meet his gaze however, all she did was stare limply into space. "...They didn't like Richmond. They probably won't like you, either."

"Who? The Resistance?"

"...I wouldn't let them, so I protected him."

"Wouldn't let them _what_?"

"They don't like cyborgs," Harrie said quietly, "Richmond was no exception, even though he saved my life. We were both in the prison and he helped me. We escaped together."

"There are good cyborgs out there?"

She nodded meekly. "But they don't listen. And that's why we're not with the Resistance."

It all made sense now. He thought it was strange Harrie and Richmond were out here in Denver all on their lonesome. During his entire time here, he'd never even seen a single living being. Now that he thought about it...

_All this time...Harrie was the only human here?_

"Richmond was more human than they realized," Harrie muttered next, "But they didn't accept him. We decided we didn't need the Resistance. We would find a place and live alone. We would live somewhere, a place where Richmond wouldn't be prosecuted. And we would look for you, on our own. We would do things our own way."

"It's just been you the entire time." He said.

"...I was fine." She muttered; she sounded dazed, her words were as hollow as her gaze was, "I was fine..."

Before Raiden could ask the next question, Harrie's eyes suddenly fluttered close and as she was about to collapse, he caught her in his arms. "Harrie?" He exclaimed, as he shook her – he'd unintentionally used too much force and her head knocked against his arm with a loud 'clunk'...but there was still no response, "Harrie...!"

He glanced around. There was nothing except from the destroyed bookstore, the church and the ruins of the city.

Nothing.

He shook her again. "Harrie, wake up!"

She was out cold.

Raiden rose to stand, scooping an arm around the small of her back and the other wrapped under the bend of her legs, carrying her. Her weight was nothing to him, and he quickly threw a glimpse at the bookstore. There was no way to enter, and if they remained here any longer, more cyborgs might arrive. His gaze settled onto a black and silver motorbike that was parked closeby; he didn't remember seeing this vehicle before so assumed it belonged to the cyborg General named Tetsuo. Raiden took a mental note before heading towards Richmond's underground base at the church.

Inside, he let Harrie rest on the bed before turning her head to her side, peering at the little black chip that was lodged in her neck.

"...What is that?" He murmured; it appeared to be a timer of some sort. It said: 168:97:32and it was counting down in tiny red digits.

He tried to pry it off her but to no avail; Harrie let out a rather pained hiss and he pulled back, deciding not to do anything he might regret. For now, he grabbed a rucksack from the side and emptying it of its contents. He had no idea where the Resistance was but it seemed to be a place he should take Harrie for the time being. The base was no longer safe. He resumed his search, going through cupboards and drawers. He came across Richmond's possessions, including an old lighter, a small hunting knife and finally, a map. He took those and then pulled out some supplies from one of the cupboards along with a flask which he dumped into the rucksack. It was heavy, and once he decided he'd packed enough, he took his HF blade, fastened it securely to sit behind his back, then went to retrieve Harrie and carried her out of the base.

Approaching the motorbike, Raiden realized the controls were no different than the bikes he'd used to drive. He sat down on the seat, Harrie slumped in his lap. Hoping that she wouldn't fall off whilst steering, he revved the engine and in seconds, he drove out of the base. He threw one final glance over his shoulder at the burning base.

_Rest in peace, Richmond. _

* * *

><p><strong>LATER<strong>

Harrie woke up with a start. She glanced around her surroundings anxiously before her gaze landed on Raiden, who was sitting hunched over a map he'd lay over the floor. He appeared to be in intense scrutiny. They were in a dilapidated building she didn't recognize. It was definitely not her base. "Where are we?"

He threw a glimpse over his shoulder once she'd spoken, and he was at her side in seconds. "Are you okay?" He helped her sit up.

Although feeling disoriented, she nodded. "I'm fine. Raiden, what is this place? How long was I out?"

"You've been out for a couple of hours. According to the map, we should be in...Shadow Mountain Lake." He muttered, scrutinizing the map he'd laid on the floor. Now he truly realized he'd taken GPS for granted.

She sprang upright immediately in shock. "What?" She said, "...B-but that's...that's so far away from-"

"We can't go back. It's not safe anymore."

Harrie wanted to say something, preferably something about Richmond. Had they just left the base, just like that? Harrie spotted the rucksack in the corner. No, no, no...but all her belongings, her possessions, her clothes, her tools, her materials, all her work! It was all in her lab... Silently, she held her head in disbelief.

_All my work...all my stuff, gone... _

"...I'm sorry, about Richmond." Raiden said, and she glanced up at him. "I'm sorry."

She wasn't sure what to say. It would just be herself and Raiden now. Knowing that she'd lost Richmond and Shelly made her want to cry again and she let out a little sniff. The air was chilly and she automatically wrapped her arms around herself in a bid to keep herself warm. Raiden noticed, then went to the rucksack and pulled out a thin blanket he'd managed to stuff into the pack.

"Here." He draped it around her and again, she looked up at him with an expression that stirred an uncomfortable, discomforting pang in the depths of his gut.

"Where are we heading to?" Harrie squeaked out, as Raiden went to sit opposite her. "The Resistance?"

He nodded. "It's your best shot."

"...Okay."

"You know where it is, right?"

"Yeah." She muttered, "I remember. Since we're in...Shadow Mountain Lake, it'll take us a couple of days to get there, hopefully. Did you...see anything on your way here?"

"What do you mean?"

"...Enemy cyborgs? Bandits? ...Cannibals?"

"Uh...no." He replied. 'Cannibals' worried him a great deal, however.

"...It's different being outside, you know. There are no rules out here. Anything goes. Only the strong survive."

"Rules of nature, huh?"

She nodded. "How did you get all the way here anyway?"

"I took the bike. Think it belonged to that cyborg called 'General Tetsuo'."

"General Tetsuo?"

Raiden asked, "You heard of him?"

"No."

"He put something in your neck."

"Yeah, I know." Harrie replied, rubbing at her neck, "...He said something about data to be extracted, so I guess it's going to..."

"You don't know what it is?"

"I have a guess...but I...I'm not sure."

Whilst Harrie mumbled the last half of that sentence, it suddenly dawned to Raiden the severity of the situation. Harrie didn't know what had been plugged into her neck, and she was concerned. "Should we try to remove it?"

She shook her head. "No, we can't just pull it out...I don't know what it'll do...It might contain a rare strain of FOXDIE or-or..."

"FOXDIE?" Raiden repeated.

Harrie nodded.

"There's a timer on it. It's been going down since." He added. She looked at him, again, with that expression that made his insides twist into a knot. As though reading her mind, he nodded. "We don't have time to waste. I need to get you to the Resistance as quick as possible. They'll know what to do, right?"

She nodded. "What was the time?"

"One hundred and sixty eight."

Harrie hesitated, pondering. He waited for her, and then finally, she said, "That's how many hours are in a week."

"You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I- _Ungh_!" As if on cue, Harrie let out a pained yelp and collapsed over the floor, trembling slightly.

He was at her side once again. "Harrie!" He yelled but she was not responding; all she could do was shake and quake uncontrollably, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Harrie!"

After what appeared to be an eternity, she stopped convulsing and went still, her eyes closed, panting heavily.

"Harrie?"

Her lips moved. "...I-I'm okay, I'm okay..."

He hated how helpless he was at this precise moment. He had no idea what was going on, where they were going, what they were going to do, and now something was wrong with Harrie and there was nothing he could do about that, either.

"Ivy." She muttered.

"What?"

"...Ivy...I need to see Ivy...She'll know what to do..."

He nodded firmly. _Right. Ivy. I need to take Harrie to see someone called 'Ivy'. This Ivy person must be at the Resistance._

"I'm cold..." She suddenly muttered next, "...C-c...cold..."

He sat still for a few moments. Harrie continued her quivering; the blanket wasn't really helping. Inevitably, Raiden reached for her with much reluctance, wrapping the blanket tighter around her body, and he held her awkwardly in his arms. Harrie slumped against him, her cheek against one metal chestplate. She was breathing erratically, taking in noisy breaths. He felt her heart hammering furiously against her ribs, each thump of her heart hit off against his ribs with a reverberation that seemed to resonate through his entire body.

Although he felt nothing from their contact, he thought he'd felt himself tensing all over. When he was human, Rose still had the privilege of lying against and with him, but after his conversion into a cyborg, physical contact was non-existent. No longer was he warm to touch. Even when Rose held his hand it did not feel like his own hand. He was frankly just a piece of walking, talking metal. The civilian body he received fared no better. It was a great improvement than his battlesuit...with the inbuilt sensors... but a part of him died that day when they turned him into a machine and nothing would console him. No amount of... _compensation_ would. The fact that he could no longer share the same human contact with a loved one was something lost and never to be found, ever again.

He felt Harrie's breathing slowing to a far more relaxed rate, meaning that she was beginning to calm down. Raiden glanced around the building he'd chosen to camp out in. It was a ranger's office, having been long abandoned for eons but he was still concerned about cyborgs or any of the bandits or cannibals Harrie had mentioned.

However, suddenly, a voice behind them brought him out of his thoughts and he immediately threw his glance over his shoulder.

"Well, well, well...what have we here?" said a familiar Brazilian drawl, and Raiden couldn't believe his eyes when he stared into the face of an adversary he once faced off so many decades ago.

_Jetstream Sam?_

A man dressed in a gray trenchcoat with floppy black hair tied into a high ponytail sauntered further inside the room, stopping before them with a sly grin gracing his features. He was clutching a blade in hand that was humming furiously, emitting energy that was visible in a soft red glow. The familiar man pointed the blade towards them and made a little motion behind him with his free hand. Almost at once, a group of disheveled looking men rushed into the room to stand behind him.

_Bandits? Or...cyborgs?_

The Sam lookalike added, "Look what we have here, gentlemen...Fresh meat."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

Tetsuo groaned.

The lab was engulfed in smoke. He got up, adjusting his vision to match his surroundings only to find that his vision was obscured. The entire lab was destroyed; the explosion had rendered everything to black soot. That cyborg that had self-destructed was nowhere to be seen. Tetsuo shook debris and dust off himself and just then, something dropped off him and clattered to the floor. He saw that it was a piece of his jaw, and tried to stand. His legs wobbled, and he realized his left arm was missing and that the entire left side of his body was missing a huge chunk. It looked as though something had decided to take a large bite out of his body. Frayed wires and metal parts crackled and fizzed violently from his broken body.

He paid no attention to his disability, grabbed his jaw and tried to slot it back into his mouth. He saw his scorched glaive in one corner and reached for it, holding it with his one arm. Hobbling up the stairs, Tetsuo left the lab silently.

* * *

><p>Right, I'm gonna have to stop there! They aren't cannibals by the way. But yes, that was Sam. Why is he here? Well...a review from Yimo really made me want to put Sam into this fic after I gave some thought about it and I think I found a way how hehe. Thanks to WolfenAmphithere, grandshadowseal, Yimo, Guest and xxyang2006xx for reviewing!<p>

PS. I love the Rules of Nature song so I wanted to dedicate this chapter's title to it. I think its one of the best soundtrack in MGR

Plus, here are some profiles:

**Name:** Harrie

Her full name is Harriet. She introduces herself to Raiden as a 'mechanic' and seems to know a lot about cybernetics. Her parents were killed by cyborgs during an evacuation, but before they were killed, they tell Harrie to remember an individual called 'Raiden' and they showed her a blueprint. She has been living with Richmond in Denver most of her life and has not seen another human being for a long time.

**Name:** Richmond

Harrie's guardian and surrogate father. He is revealed to be a cyborg in the previous chapter and he sacrificed himself to destroy Tetsuo but at the cost of his own life. He is not a strong cyborg as Raiden however. He met Harrie after her parents were killed by cyborgs and she was captured and taken to a prison where she was put into the same cell as Richmond. He had been deactivated but she reprogrammed him and using his strength, they escaped together. According to Harrie, Richmond wasn't welcome and was turned away by the Resistance. Harrie decided to leave with Richmond to relocate somewhere else (Denver)

**Name:** Tetsuo

Or known as 'General Tetsuo'. He is a cyborg with short black hair and red eyes; he is young appearance but has a deep voice. He is painted black in color and usually adorned in large hulking armor, wielding a glaive twice his size.


	9. Chapter 9

GAAH. I hate action. But it seems all this fic is – it is all action! AARGH! it's so hard. Aside from that, Raiden x OC is taking a very long time to manifest in this story. I am sorry, but please do enjoy the slo-mance. If it's too quick, it just won't feel right. I have also managed to write this rather quickly because it came so easily to me (despite the action).

Thank you to grandshadowseal, xxyangxx2006, Tenori-tiger, Yimo and Ion-M21 for reviewing. You guys are the best ;)

* * *

><p><strong>VS. JETSTREAM SAM<strong>

As the group of disheveled men and the Sam look-alike surrounded them, Raiden moved in front of Harrie protectively but it was no use; all of the men were creeping towards them from all directions. All had their beady, beetle-like set their eyes on Harrie. He honestly didn't know if they were cannibals or merely bandits. He didn't think they were bandits. The backpack Raiden had taken with him...the group of men hadn't even given it half a glance even though it was sitting against the wall, ready for their taking should they want it. If they were cannibals however, Raiden would do anything to protect Harrie at all costs. It didn't matter if they were humans. He'd kill them all. Every single last one of them. After all, he made a promise.

"Boss," said one of the sickly-looking men within the crowd, "It's a cyborg."

"Yes, I know."

"Let's kill him."

"Yeah! Kill!"

Raiden's eyes narrowed and he slowly reached for his HF blade which he'd kept strapped behind him. To his surprise, the Sam look-alike made another motion with his free hand and the men began to move backwards as though obeying his every command. "Gentlemen, stop. Stand down, please. You are scaring our guests." He muttered, "I will handle this."

"If any of you lay one finger on her, I'll kill you." growled Raiden.

The Sam look-alike merely smirked, but turned to his men. "You heard blondie. No-one touches the chica, okay?"

"Sam!" Raiden yelled; abandoning his hold on Harrie, he pulled out his HF blade and held it in front of him. Any move Sam pulled and he wouldn't hesitate to strike him down. "The hell are you doing here?!"

The Sam look-alike feigned a brief look of surprise. "Hm...you act as if you know me." He said.

The man was definitely Sam. There was no doubt about it. He looked like Sam, he had the scar, the strong dark eyes, those eyebrows...he spoke like Sam... walked like Sam...even the hair was fashioned in the same hairstyle. The only difference was his clothes. He appeared shabbier too. His face was dotted with unruly stubble, hiding that chiseled chin and rugged jawline. The man was built, indicated by the dusty gray trenchcoat, hiding his broad and wide shoulders. Underneath the trenchcoat, it seemed he was wearing a white sneaking suit, the material outlining the muscled curves of his thighs and calves.

Raiden ogled the red blade he was carrying warily. It looked exactly the same as the Muramasa. The man noticed Raiden's insistent gaze on his sword and grinned widely, "See something you like?" He taunted, with a leer.

In response, Raiden's eyes merely narrowed in caution.

As the rest of his men remained lurking behind, the Sam look-alike continued to move, taking one step at a time, circling Raiden whilst watching him with a light smirk. Mischief was dancing in his eyes; Raiden didn't notice it until now, but Harrie and Richmond (despite being a cyborg), they had very soulless, glassy eyes...Eyes exhibiting what he would call the thousand yard stare. The Sam look-alike, on the other hand, gave Raiden the feeling that he was very much alive and didn't give a care in the world, "...How is it you know my name?"

"You have got to be kidding me." Raiden grunted, his clawed fingers tightening thoroughly around the handle of his blade, "Am I going to have to kill you again?"

"Again? I have no idea what you're talking about." Sam replied, a little nonchalantly for Raiden's liking, "But that is an impressive sword you have there...the way you are holding it...It is..._interesting_."

He let out a disgruntled grunt in response, "You haven't changed one bit, Jetstream!"

The Sam look-alike cocked one thin black eyebrow, "...Jetstream?"

"You've forgotten?" Raiden barked, "I took you down all those years ago, when you were with Desperado. I cut you down."

Sam let out a loud bark of laughter, "Me? Lose? Never! In fact, I think I could do with some entertainment right now. It is so boring around here. What do you say, blondie? You and me?"

"If it's a fight you want, then by all means, let's."

"Hoho! But let's make it more interesting, shall we? If I win...then the chica, she comes with us, okay?" Sam made a little gesture to the unconscious Harrie who was lying on the ground.

Raiden's eyes widened, "_What?!_"

Impatiently, Sam held his blade up in front of him, the tip pointing just centimeters from Raiden's nose, "Come on, blondie. You heard me. Don't make me repeat myself. What are you doing, lugging a human around? Where did you even get one from anyway?"

Raiden growled. As if he would ever agree or allow Sam to take Harrie. "I didn't think you would stoop to that kind of low."

"What's the matter? You look scared."

"Like hell I am!" Raiden barked, before he readied himself into a stance, "I took you down once...I can do it again."

Once more, Sam looked surprised, then grinned. "This is more like it. If you win, blondie, then I suppose...well..."

"...I won't even bother to ask why you're still alive or why you're even here...If I win, you let us leave in peace and go back into whatever hole you crawled out from."

Sam shrugged jovially as he contemplated his words. "Fair enough." He muttered under his breath, rubbing at his unshaven chin before grinning wickedly. With blade in hand, Sam spread his legs, a stance Raiden was all too familiar with, a stance he had seen before. Sam balanced his blade in one hand, pointing it high, his left leg behind and the right in front. All weight would be put onto the left, giving more power to the right. The last time Raiden fought Sam, he remembered the Brazilian had powerful charging attacks. He eyed his stance warily then moved into his own stance. Raiden always held his blade pointing downwards. The differences in their techniques and styles were rather complimentary, he admitted. All in all, one could call it a dance.

At first, nothing happened.  
>No-one made the first move.<p>

_Awkward_, Raiden thought, but it appeared Sam had no intent on making the first move. _Well, if he doesn't want to go first, then I will._

With a cry, Raiden lunged at him all but at once. Blades went swinging, hitting against each other. Sam had countered, exactly as Raiden had predicted. They came face to face, straining to gain the upperhand. Compared to General Tetsuo, Sam lacked in strength but his agility was top notch, as demonstrated when the Brazilian quickly retreated his blade faster before Raiden could blink. Sam brought his blade down in a vertical slash; a brilliant red flash of light following the smooth swipe of the blade and Raiden dodged only for Sam to come at him again. This time he finished his combination of sword attacks with a hefty kick. Raiden parried using the hilt of his blade, Sam's leg slamming against Raiden's clenched fist.

It was strong enough to make him almost drop the blade if he hadn't held on so tightly. Raiden made a horizontal slash, aiming for Sam's stomach; the man dodged like lightning and reappeared at Raiden's left. Before he could get to Raiden, however, he'd evaded in time. The battle was no different the last time they faced off all those years ago in the desert.

"Very good, blondie. You're not as bad as you look." Sam said with a chuckle.

"What." Raiden growled through clenched teeth. With that, he rushed forwards again and their blades collided once more before both men sprang apart from the force. Raiden went backwards, heels skidding, he plunged his hand into the ground to act as a brake, his clawed fingers scraping against the floorboards.

When he looked up, Sam swung his blade in a circular motion and before he knew what was going on, Sam had rushed towards him with supreme speed, striking him down. He had performed one of his charging attacks, and Raiden had failed to anticipate. The sheer force of Sam slamming into him was parallel to being hit by a train and Raiden was knocked off his feet completely, slamming against the wall. He broke it with his weight and toppled outside into the woodlands. Sam came following after him in seconds, stepping over the debris. "Amateur! You swing your blade as if it is a toy!"

"Ugh!" Raiden grunted, as he lifted himself back up. He had little time to recover; Sam was charging at him again. This time, Raiden countered with a slash of his blade head on. As expected, Sam dodged with a backwards flip.

"I'm just warming up!" Sam exclaimed as Raiden stood opposite him; his men followed the two out into the open field, watching the fight keenly from the sidelines. Again, they readied their blades. Sam made no effort in making the first move; instead, all the man did was gaze at the cyborg expectantly, patiently. Irritated, Raiden rubbed at his jaw, wiping away at some dirt and mud.

"You're really starting to piss me off." He growled.

"This ends here." Sam replied, smirking.

_Damn right_, Raiden thought. He came dashing at Sam, deciding to use his ninja run. As sparks emitted from his feet, Sam let out a low whistle of appreciation. Once he closed in, Raiden's blade moved in his hands as if it had a mind of his own, but every time, Sam would counter with a well-timed block of his sword. Eventually, Sam leapt off the ground with his blade raised high above him – Raiden glanced up and immediately brought his in front in a bid to parry. He'd countered with enough force to shove Sam backwards, and he brought his blade downwards with all his strength.

The blade made contact with Sam's shoulder and into his chest, ripping into his trenchcoat and suit, cutting deeply into flesh. Raiden saw that the trenchcoat was hiding a pauldron that resembled the exoskeleton of a cyborg. So, Sam did have some armor after all. "Gah!" Sam shouted as he dropped to one knee, rich red blood spewing forth from the wound. Despite the assault, the man was beginning to grin. "...Not bad at all, blondie."

"Boss!" exclaimed some of the men. They made a move forwards but Sam stopped them by holding his hand up.

Meanwhile, Raiden stared in bewilderment. The man was bleeding. It was human blood. Frankly, he had been confused. Sam's sudden appearance was enough to send his mind spinning. Now he was _terribly _confused by the whole situation. It felt so surreal to him. "You're human." He bit out. At first, he had thought perhaps this was a cyborg version of Sam...but now he severely doubted that assumption.

Sam was clutching at his wounded chest, "Yes, so what if I am human?"

"And you still challenged me to a fight?"

"Why not?"

He turned away, glancing at his HF blade which was dripping in Sam's fresh blood. "...Then I don't want to fight. I'm not interested."

This caused a deep frown to appear on Sam's face, his expression darkening in seconds. "What is the meaning of this?"

Raiden said nothing and returned his blade into the holster. "Fighting you won't mean anything." He murmured. The last time he fought Sam, he struck him down. Sam died...and Raiden felt...guilty. Sam had been a powerful adversary. A good adversary. An adversary he had fought and had wondered twice if he had done the right thing. Raiden hadn't met anyone who had refined their skills, honored and enjoyed bushido, or at least, swordsmanship. If they weren't enemies, maybe they could've been good friends. Really good friends. It was absurd to think about it...he couldn't even imagine himself going to football games with Sam, going to bars and drinking beer...but there was not one moment in his life when Raiden would look back and had thought: "What if?"He didn't even want to admit it, but...

_I don't want to kill Sam again. I don't want him to die. _

_I..._

_...I didn't want him to die._

A groan from the corner brought him out of his thoughts. "Harrie!" He rushed to her side again, "Are you okay?"

"...Mmhph..." She let out a weak moan, "Raiden...?"

"Come on, let's get outta here..."

Sam's gaze landed on the girl as Raiden grabbed the rucksack, pulling a strap over one shoulder before he bent down to pick Harrie up, scooping her into his arms; her eyes were closed, her lips dry. He brushed some of her hair away from her face but there was no response. At least he knew she had woken up. He lifted her up off the ground and carried her out of the ranger's office with Sam still clutching at his wound and watching silently; the rest of the men cowered as Raiden passed them, too afraid to do anything. From the looks of like, maybe these men were human too.

Before Raiden stepped one foot out of the office, there was a cry of: "_**Wait!**_" It was Sam. Raiden stopped in his path, as the Brazilian asked, "...Where are you heading?"

Raiden's response was instantaneous. "None of your business."

"The chica...Why are you caring for her? What is she to you?"

"She's my – " Raiden paused. What was Harrie to him? He threw his glance down to the girl in his arms. Now that he was being confronted about his relationship with Harrie, he found himself at a loss at words, but then he hurriedly uttered out, "...I'm the only one she's got left. She's a friend."

"Friend?" Sam let out a subsequent bark of laughter following his remark. "Blondie. Wherever you are going...Allow me to accompany you and the chica. What do you say?"

Finally, Raiden turned to face the man, gawping at him in disbelief. "What! Stop bullshitting me. This isn't some road trip!"

"Yes, I know, but that chip on her neck," Sam said, pointing to his own neck, "I've seen it before. It's going to kill her if you don't remove it properly."

"I don't need your help. We can handle this on our own." Raiden snarled, before he proceeded to exit the ranger's office; he'd had enough of this. It didn't matter if this was truly Sam or not, this was frankly a waste of his time and resources; it was most likely that Harrie had a week to get to the resistance and he had no idea how to get there. Realizing that Harrie would drift in and out of consciousness from now on, he really had to make the most of his time...

And after leaving the ranger's office in Shadow Mountain Lake, Raiden decided to stop a distance away once he heard Harrie stirring awake. Something told him Sam wouldn't follow or demand a rematch. He'd also kept Tetsuo's bike parked nearby although he was beginning to think twice if he should use it, for it did belong to the cyborg, after all...it could have a tracker for all that mattered... As Harrie woke up, Raiden let her rest on a bed of dry undergrowth, using the rucksack as a pillow. Since he'd been travelling for some time, he took out the flask and unscrewed the lid, lifting the flask to her lips. She opened her eyes and drank weakly, taking one measly gulp.

"You need to drink more than that." He pointed out.

"...I'll be fine...We need to hold off as much as possible until we reach the resistance..." She muttered blearily, "You won't be able to find water for a long time..."

That was true. Despite their arrival at Shadow Mountain Lake, he never did truly see a lake. All he saw were dead tree trunks, dry mud, dirt, rocks and pebbles. In fact, the entire time he'd been travelling, all he'd come across was dry, barren wasteland. There was no color, nothing. Everything was...dead. The sky was a dull gray, there was no sun, no light. Nothing. "...Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

She shook her head. "I'm just tired. Who was that by the way? I heard you fighting."

"No-one." Raiden replied quickly.

"Was that Jetstream Sam?"

At first, he took a while to reply, but then he said, with a defeated groan, "How'd you know that name?"

"I read about him once. I know you defeated him in 2018. That was more than a hundred years ago."

The fact that it had been more than hundred years chilled him to the core. "...So how is it he's alive and kicking? Why is he here?"

"I don't know." She replied dejectedly. A few seconds later, a silence spawned between them. Harrie glanced up at Raiden, but the cyborg was silent. "...Is he even human?"

"He was bleeding but...I didn't stick around long to find out if he truly was." Raiden muttered, "The Sam I fought was human. He barely had any cybernetic enhancements." Following that, he let out a weak chuckle and added, "He was still tough as hell to defeat."

"Hm, I see."

"He didn't recognize me."

"Maybe it wasn't Jetstream Sam then? Maybe it was his descendant or something." Harrie suggested, but Raiden didn't really believe in that statement. _What were the odds of that? _She added, "...Or a clone."

"Clone?"

Harrie nodded. "That is a possible explanation. Do you think he's evil?"

"...I didn't really get the feeling, but that doesn't mean anything. He was a bit...different, kind of toned down, if you get what I mean."

"Maybe he can help us."

"No way. I don't care if he is a clone, human or a cyborg. All I know is that I don't trust him one bit. Last time I remember, he was helping the bad guys." Raiden grunted, "...And I promised Richmond that I would look after you." Suddenly, Harrie put her hand on his arm and he stiffened slightly from the contact. Again, he was reminded of just how small and soft Harrie was. He found his voice appeared to have gone into hiding and Harrie closed her eyes, as though wanting to rest. She retreated her hand away and immediately, he relaxed. "Uh...Harrie?" He began, a little anxiously.

"Yeah?"

"...Ever since you found me and woke me up, things have been going by really...fast, and it's like I've never been given a proper explanation. There's been no time to stop and to talk about it, to think about it."

She re-opened her eyes and glanced up at him. Green eyes met blue. Raiden quickly glanced away, concentrating on the bland woodlands before them. "I know. I'm sorry. I wish I knew everything, too. I guess we'll just have to find out together, Raiden." She muttered; her voice was a low whisper. Perhaps it hurt her to speak.

"What would they have done, if I had lost the duel, if I was defeated... and they took you?"

"But you didn't lose."

She'd dodged the question but deep inside, he thought he already knew the answer to that. He hadn't seen a single woman since. The men would've probably done unspeakable things to Harrie. "I know that Sam wouldn't have done anything to you." Raiden muttered, "He was just bluffing."

"Wait a second. If you think he's human...and he saw that you – _a cyborg_ - were travelling with me..." Harrie said, "Maybe he thought you were the evil one and had captured me? Maybe that's why he challenged you."

"Huh?"

"Oh, never mind. I'm just trying to understand the situation a little better. Were you even friends?"

"No. He was someone I once fought." He said, shaking his head, "...He was just someone I once fought."

* * *

><p>Ok, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Here are some points I want to share:<p>

1. If you go to Sam's page on Metal Gear wikia, there is a picture in the gallery called Sam rough sketch 2. I would say this matches his appearance here in this fic

2. When Raiden fought Sam in this chapter, I was watching the Sam boss fight on youtube. He does seem to wait for you (the player) to make the first move as he simply stands when the battle begins. He also has a really powerful charging attack which you have to parry/counter. Also, I remember that Sam called Raiden 'blondie' so I put that in too hehe.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello everyone! I have another chapter of 'Heroes' for you all. I really have no idea why it is called Heroes (lol). Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and thank you all to those who reviewed the previous chapter :)

* * *

><p><strong>NIGHT TERRORS<strong>

"_What are you?"_

"_A soldier."_

"_What are you good for?"_

"_Killing."_

"_What do you live for?"_

"_Killing."_

"_And why do you kill?"_

"_Because I'm good at it."_

...

Raiden woke up with a start.

He peered through the darkness of the room and saw Rose lying beside him on the bed. She was fast asleep, partially buried under their shared covers with her back to him. He could hear her breathing gently, and with a groan, he scrubbed at his face with one palm. His hand was very cold, rock-hard and uncomfortable. Removing the hand that was not even his own, he returned to lie over the bed, their custom-made mattress absorbing and sagging under his weight before springing back up slowly, emitting a wheeze.

Rose made a noise, a sigh, and rolled over to face him. "...Jack?"

"Sorry," he grunted, "Did I wake you?"

She shook her head, before she crawled closer to him and gently laid her head to rest over his chest. He tensed all over but said nothing in response to her actions; despite being married and occasionally being intimate, Rose's meager touch and simply being in close proximity with her was still strong enough to send his heart rate spiking no matter what. Perhaps the worst thing was that Rose was aware of how awkward he'd become, and she'd called it 'cute' once, much to his dismay. With Rose lying over him and her hand rubbing over his chest, she murmured, "Were you having a nightmare again?"

He nodded briefly. "Yeah." He let out an awkward cough, wrapping his arms around her. "It's nothing, really."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Alas, a fine example of one of the perks of marrying and living with a psychological counselor. Raiden forced a wry smile in response. "No, it's fine, Rose."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

A silence spawned between them. It was a rare moment - him, lying in bed beside his wife. The night had been quiet. There had been no arguments, no problems, no complaints, nothing. So far, so good. And it seemed Rose was in a good mood, too. She was running her hand up and down his chest. He concentrated on staring at the ceiling, at the fan above. Earlier on and he switched it off so it would stop revolving and chuck dust over them. He stared at the ceiling, then glanced down at his wife in his arms.

"...Uh...Rose?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Your, uh...your birthday's coming up."

She nodded.

"You're going to be..."

"Thirty eight."

"Yeah."

_Almost forty_, his mind said. _It's been ten years. _He kept his mouth shut.

"The girls will be holding a party for me. Ladies night at the bar downtown. You're not invited." Rose said, with a giggle. He knew she was teasing.

"No, it's alright. I got something planned for the both of us. Just me and you."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"...Yeah, me too."

Suddenly, Rose shifted in his arms before inching out of his embrace. He let go of her, watching Rose climb out of the bed before making her way to their en-suite bathroom. She switched the light on as she entered and she stopped at the sink; he saw her reflection in the mirror as she stood, reaching over to get some tablets from the highest shelf. He saw her stare at her reflection for a short while before she put a hand to her face, inspecting some newly acquired wrinkles and the crow's feet. After downing her tablets, he saw reach for a tub of moisturizer with the label 'Age-Defying' which she was now spreading over her face, her forehead, under the eyes and her neck, rubbing in even circles – in an upwards motion – before patting at her cheeks.

He lay still on the bed. Rose would turn thirty eight years old this year. He was still...well, he would've been roughly the same age too, but he didn't quite look it. _The perks and quirks of being a cyborg_, he thought to himself. Over the years, and he'd watched Rose grow old. It was a bizarre thing to witness...not that he actually noticed it until now. Rose was steadily growing older as the years went by and he was still like this. He was still fresh-faced, young and handsome. When going out in public, people didn't believe they were married. When speaking to family friends (more or less, _Rose's friends_, not his), they said he thought he was Rose's younger brother or something, a nephew, perhaps. Not husband. The age gap was so apparent. It was embarrassing and ever since, they'd never quite lived it down. They stopped talking about it, of course, but it would always be there in the back of their minds like an irritating itch that was never-ending, unless scratched. Although when Rose would try to talk about it, or even mention it, then Raiden would fly off in a rage, storm out of the house and to the local pub. He didn't mean to, it was just some kind of coping mechanism he'd adapted to and gotten used to by now. Rose was used to it. She didn't like it, but she was used to it.

They both stopped going out together, at least, in public. No more romantic meals, no more going to the cinema, unless they wanted the myriad of whispers and uncomfortable stares they attracted. Rose was encouraging, telling him to ignore the people and that it was their life and they shouldn't care about what other people thought...but over the time, it gradually became clearer and clearer, sinking deeper and deeper into their minds when one day, he saw Rose going out on her own.

_I'm just going out to do some shopping_, she had said, _I can go myself._

Soon, they began spending time apart than together. Things were never really the same. But that was the least of the problems; Little John had a hard time explaining about his father, too. Little John adored him, of course. He was still too young to understand what had truly happened to Raiden, too young to know the horrors of his father's traumatic past, the crimes he'd committed and all the fine details of the job that steals him away from his family every now and then. Every annual parent's evening where teachers sat down with concerned parents about how their child was doing in school, Rose would go. Not Raiden. She would ask him to, but then he'd go into one of his tantrums again and leave the house, escaping to the bar. It was for their own good, he thought, a cyborg turning up to parent's evening, discussing his kid's grades and potential future... It was absurd.

The bathroom light switched off, temporarily breaking him out of his thoughts, and Rose returned to bed; she climbed into his embrace again and he held her. This was indeed, a rare moment. "What are you thinking about?" She asked.

He jerked slightly, then shakily threw his glance down to his wife. "...Huh?"

"What is it? You can tell me, you know that."

"Yeah, I know." He murmured, "I know. It's nothing. Go to sleep."

She opened one eye, glanced up and gave him one final look. "...Goodnight, Jack."

"Night, Rose."

* * *

><p><strong>PRESENT<strong>

Raiden noticed that he was very cold. He was not lying on a bed, nor was he in his bedroom. He was lying upright against the wall of a rundown shack, sitting on the hard, cold, dirty and dusty ground. He rubbed at his eyes, then glanced around to see Harrie squatting by the door of the shack, cautiously peeking out every now and then. Outside the shack and it was pitch black. There was also no light in the shack itself so they were both sitting in darkness. He saw no light outside either, except from the soft white glow from the moon and the small twinkling lights of the stars in the sky. It was peaceful despite the hostile world. He'd really taken streetlights for granted, considering how dark it was.

"Harrie...?" He croaked out. How long had he been asleep? He tried to stand as she scooted towards his side and sat down beside him with her knees tucked to her chest, "You're awake. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He heard her reaching over for the rucksack and she began rifling through. "Is this all you brought with you from the base?"

"Yeah."

"...Oh." She didn't have to say it but he knew he hadn't taken a lot. Harrie pulled out the lighter, the knife and the map he'd taken with them and held up against the moonlight. Once she'd reached the bottom of the bag, having taken out some tinned beans, tuna and spam and the flask along with some other small supplies, she rummaged through it again, before her stomach emitted a pained growl. With a sigh, Harrie picked up a can of tinned tuna, inspecting it. "Can I borrow your hand for a minute, please?"

"Uh...sure?" came his perturbed response as he eyed her, a little warily.

She took his hand, and using his sharpened finger, she draw his hand around in a circle over the lid of the tuna and popped it off. Raiden retreated his hand, glancing at his gooey finger in mild distaste, although when he turned to the girl; he saw that she was now eating the cold tuna with her own hand, plunging her fingers into the pink and gooey, raw fish flesh before scooping it into her mouth. The sight made him even more uneasy than ever. She only ate half of the can before putting it away. "Mm, that was yummy. That really hit the spot. Right, that's enough. I need to save some for later."

"You're kidding, right?" Raiden said, but she nodded.

"It's better than nothing." She replied, and he shook his head in disbelief. Suddenly, she let out a gasp and gestured to his arm. "You're bleeding."

He was surprised she could see that but he supposed the light cast from the moon enabled her to see to a certain extent. He quickly threw his glance down to his right arm where a small trail of white blood was leaking out from a cut he hadn't noticed before. "Oh...it was probably when I was fighting Sam..."

Harrie inched closer towards him and he automatically moved away further from her; she let out a scoff at his action and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on." She huffed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Yes, sorry, but it's just..." He let his sentence trailing when Harrie took hold of his arm and was dabbing at the wound with an old napkin she'd taken from one of her pockets, soiling the tattered piece of cloth with white splodges, much to his embarrassment.

"I know, I know, the _Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder_, right?" She muttered, "You're not the only one."

He didn't exactly appreciate her speaking about it so freely. It was worsened by the fact that she had compared herself to him. Rose would never do that; she would never confront him in such a direct manner or make light of the situation. Speaking about it was strictly taboo with undesirable consequences (namely him throwing a tantrum and storming out of the house and into a bar). However, when Harrie rubbed at his arm, he soon realized he'd quickly forgotten about her comment and was now allowing her to tend to him.

"Honestly, look at you." She was murmuring with a frown, "You get dirty really easy. You just don't look after yourself, or care about what happens to you at all, do you?" Harrie began smothering at the bottom of his metal chin, wiping away at some stubborn mud patches – again, they were possibly a result from the scuffle with Sam.

He jerked his head away. "Stop that. I promised Richmond I'd take care of you, not the other way round." He barked, pulling himself away from her. She went deathly silent immediately, for good reason. Raiden felt guilt kicking in...guilt for snapping at her, when she was genuinely caring for him. Slowly, Harrie's gaze returned to the ground and she let go of his arm. Harrie turned away from him, then dumped the cloth over his knee. His gut squirmed when he realized, and he glanced at the cloth for his taking. The rundown shack fell silent and whilst Raiden made no move to clean himself, Harrie stared off into space - she must have had a lot on her mind, no doubt. "It's getting really late now." He said, a little awkwardly.

"Yeah." Harrie grunted in response.

"Should we go somewhere else?"

"This is fine. The woods are too dense for RAYs and Gekkos, and cyborgs don't come here anyway. They're always patrolling major cities because they know humans will be there."

"Aren't you cold?"

"I'm fine. We can't make a fire. If we get detected, we're screwed. And there's no point in moving in the dark."

He nodded in agreement.

"By the way...you were having a nightmare." She muttered. "...What were you dreaming about?"

Raiden was reluctant, but he forced himself to say, "Nothing much. Just... things that happened in the past."

"Well...it sounded like you were having a bad dream. I get bad dreams too. It's always about the past...things that happened to me...things that I saw. I don't dream about future."

It was then he recalled that when he was in his cyborg 'coma', he'd saw Harrie whimpering and calling for her parents in her sleep once. This must be what she was talking about.

"It's like...there's something here-" She put a clenched fist over where her heart should be in her chest, "That keeps holding onto those bad memories. It's like something inside me just can't rest...I can't let it go and move on. It just keeps playing and playing, over and over again. I don't know how to stop them. They just keep coming."

"Your parents, right?" Raiden muttered quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah." Then she cleared her throat quickly and added, "W-well, that's enough sob stories for one day. I think we're all done feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's talk about what we'll do next...Um...When we get to the Resistance, I'll take you to my base. It used to belong to my parents but it's mine now. Hopefully it's still there and all our stuff is still untouched. I did ask Ivy to look after it for me while I was gone, in case I would come back."

"Who's Ivy?"

"She's a doctor. She'll know what to do with that thing stuck to my neck. Don't worry, everything will be okay."

"What about Sam? Should we do anything about him?"

Her reply was quick. "There's nothing much we can do. He probably was a clone. You know all about them, considering Solid Snake was one. The man you fought must have been a clone of the original Jetstream Sam who you defeated in 2018. Desperado must have kept a sample of his DNA just in case."

He nodded. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what had happened to Snake and Otacon...although knowing that Otacon had become a patron Holy Saint was certainly something worth looking into further. Maybe when they arrived at the base he would find out more. "What about the others? Mistral? Monsoon?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. But...to be fair, tonnes of DNA samples were destroyed in a worldwide Desperado Raid conducted about over half a century ago...and we don't have access to major technology anymore. If that was a Sam clone, he should be older than he looks...so that means, someone with access to a lot of technology and has Desperado samples...had conducted the cloning quite recently...which means the culprit must be from around the time when Desperado was raided, I guess?"

His mind was reeling again. There were so many unanswered questions. Who was the man he fought at Shadow Mountain Lake? A Sam clone, as Harrie had said? If he was a clone, who had done such a thing? And how did the Sam clone end up in Shadow Mountain Lake anyway? Raiden shook his head, growling slightly under his breath. His fist clenched. "Do you think there are other Sam clones out there?"

Again, Harrie shrugged. "Probably. Probably not." She let out a yawn next and grabbed the blanket. "I'm going to get some more sleep. Goodnight, Raiden."

"Jack."

"Huh?"

"...My name is...Jack."

Almost at once, Raiden proceeded to blink numbly into the darkness, wondering why he'd said such a thing. There was nothing that had provoked such a comment out of him, that was for sure. And because of that, he fell silent following his own remark. Harrie, too, was watching him owlishly, with surprise. "Uh..." She rubbed at her elbow awkwardly, "...Jack?"

He waved his clawed hand in the darkness in dismissal, "Forget it. Forget I said anything-"

"No, it's okay. I know." She said hurriedly, "I know your name is Jack. _Raiden_ is your codename."

"...Yeah." He grunted, before he turned to his side so his back was facing her. He wasn't particularly in a mood to share any other heartfelt one to one's right now. His past was also something he'd want to keep hidden in the shadows where they rightfully belonged. He shuffled around impatiently, trying to get comfortable whilst Harrie continued to watch him worriedly.

A few minutes later of more silence, he heard her squeak out, "You call her name in your sleep a lot." She mumbled, throwing her glance to the floor as she fidgeted in her spot. "...I noticed."

His shoulders tensed, "Yeah, well...that's all in the past now. There's nothing else to it. That's all there is."

...

Much, much later, Raiden re-awoke when he heard a noise. He didn't even notice it himself but apparently he'd fallen asleep for the second time in the night after that eventful conversation with Harrie. Unsure what time it was, Raiden glimpsed around the shack blearily; Harrie was curled in one corner, fast asleep. He could hear her whimpering – another bad dream, he presumed. However, before he could go to her, he heard the noise again – it was a very faint noise – and he could not exactly point out what was causing such a bizarre noise or where it was coming from, but it sounded a lot like..._screaming_? Raiden rose from his spot and stood in the small shack, listening carefully. It was indeed, screaming. He hastily went to Harrie's side and shook her carefully.

"Harrie, wake up!" He hissed, "There's something...or someone, nearby. What do we do?"

To his dismay, the girl did not wake up. Instead, she swatted away at his hand and rolled onto her stomach, her cheek pasted flat against the rucksack which she was using as a pillow.

Raiden removed his hand; he did not know what to do, and he did not know what would be the best course of action to do in this instance. Harrie hadn't really told him what was out there these days, or how to handle a situation like this one. What if it was a bandit? A cannibal? A cyborg? In that case, perhaps he should investigate, get rid of the potential threat, then return to Harrie and then they should leave the shack as soon as possible and find another safe place for refuge. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder towards the direction of where the screaming was emitting from, and let out a sigh. _I should go check it out. I'll have to be quick...Harrie should be okay here... _With that in mind, Raiden grabbed his HF blade from the corner and left the shack quietly.

Once outside, he stepped foot into the wilderness cautiously, throwing his gaze vigilantly the entire time, ready to attack should anything spring out. Raiden made his way away from the shack and towards the direction of the pained screams. The screaming was growing closer, now that he had walked a certain distance from the shack. He occasionally threw concerned glimpses towards the shack where he'd left Harrie just in case, but after his quick investigation, he would return immediately. Continuing with his one man mission, Raiden inched forwards ever so slightly; he could hear that the screaming had subsided into a barrage of mournful wails and sobs, which were indisputably getting closer and closer. He went still, fingers tightening around the handle of his blade as he observed the scenery before him in case anything sprung out –

- and just like that, a figure came bursting through the undergrowth and into the opening.

Raiden leapt backwards, holding his blade high, eyes narrowing, until he realized the figure was a woman. She stumbled towards his direction – he had no idea where this woman came from, who she was, what she was doing here - nor did he know what to do and he was frozen all over, but when he realized that she appeared to be injured, he put down his blade and caught the strange woman before she collapsed.

The mysterious woman stared up at him, tears streaking down her face. Her eyes were wide, trembling with fear. Overall, the woman was very disheveled looking and dreary, much like the men he'd seen lurk around with the supposed Sam-clone earlier on in the day. It also appeared this woman was human; he saw a deep gash on her stomach and glanced helplessly at the blood pouring from her wound. At first, he was worried that she would see that he was a cyborg and would scream and try to run away, but the woman was grabbing at him with her bloodied hands frantically, desperately. It appeared she couldn't determine what he truly was because of how dark it was in the woodlands.

"You have to help me!" She choked out. Her voice was frail and sickly. "My son!" She was gasping each word out painfully, "They've taken my son!"

"Son?" He said, but everything that proceeded to spew forth from her mouth was blood and undecipherable gibberish. The woman was hysterical as she lay bleeding in his arms.

"T-they took my son! My child..."

"Calm down! Who's taken your son?"

"The cyborgs! Please bring him back to me. Bring him back..."

He tried to calm her down. "Y-yeah, of course. Listen, just calm down and stay here, alright-" He paused when the woman strained over to glance at the direction that led further into the woods; she was trying to point at the direction and he saw a familiar black chip on her neck. It was the exact same chip on Harrie's neck, and the tiny red numbers were ticking down quickly, rapidly. It was at the number seven. "That chip on your neck-"

She turned, grabbed onto his arm, shaking her head furiously. before she began spluttering out quickly and furiously, "Just promise me you'll find him. I don't care what happens to me. You have to find my son, please. His name is – "

The woman did not finish her sentence, and Raiden stared as the woman suddenly went still in his arms, her hand going loose around his arm before it dropped to her side, limp. Her eyes were still open, mouth half-open. He shook her, but there was no response.

She was dead.

Anxiously, he moved her head to the side and he glanced at the black chip.

The number was zero.

* * *

><p>The small conversation between a soldier and some mysterious third party at the beginning was stemming from Raiden's past as a child soldier. I had really wanted to expand on it a bit more since we just know that Solidus took Raiden in after killing his parents and raised him up to fight in the Liberian war and made them watch action movies and slitting a guy's throat in front of the poor kid, but then there is nothing else so I will possibly write some more about Raiden's day as a child soldier in later chapters. I know Raiden regretted his past but during his training, I would expect that he had complied with no questioning or guilt until later. The part after that about Raiden and Rose hopefully would have shed more light as to why he ended up being estranged from his family once again before his deactivation.<p>

I am sorry that it is very s-l-o-w. This is a very slow-paced story. It is already chapter 10 and they have not reached the Resistance at all :(

On the other hand, I had also wanted to write more about how unfriendly the world has become and how it has degenerated over time, but if you have played The Last of Us or simply watched The Walking Dead, then you will already have a good idea as to how the world in this fic has become! :)


	11. Chapter 11

Hi everybody :) So sorry for the lack of update. This is getting extremely hard to write - especially this chapter. It's...M-rated. Because of the things that happen and the themes. Thank you all who have reviewed. despite the content of this chapter, I do hope you enjoy.

Warnings - gory violence. Implied sexual themes

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><p><strong>VIOLENT JACK<strong>

Raiden raced through the night, adjusting his optical implants accordingly. He even zoomed in at certain points, glancing around for a better field of vision. A distance away, he thought he could hear faint screaming. However, he could see nothing, only trees and darkness. His vision was as good as dead. Every shadow looked like it could be hiding an unforeseen monster within and the screaming – he could not determine where it was coming from – but he had to find the boy soon.

...There! Raiden spun on his heel, turning a one hundred and eighty degree angle once his ears picked up the noise coming from behind him. Again, his vision was met with nothing but darkness. Now the screaming had changed direction and was emitting from his left. In an attempt to discern the source of the noise, he kept glancing around. In his confusion, he held his blade up in front of him. The screaming was growing louder and louder. Letting out a low cry, Raiden lowered himself to the ground with his hands clamped over his ears, yelling as the screams increased, echoing violently until –

Hands were on his shoulders but instinctively, he threw them off him and reared back up with his blade pointing at the assailant's direction.

There was Harrie, lying on the ground, having been pushed by the cyborg. She was gawping at the tip of the HF blade which was pointing at her nose, mouth agape in horror. Raiden was panting, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, although when he noticed it was Harrie; he hastily retreated the blade away from her face and took a few awkward steps backwards. "S...sorry." He croaked out, clearly disoriented.

Harrie slowly stood back up once she deemed it was safe, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "...Raiden? Are you okay?"

He stared at her silently. Truth was, he didn't know.

She tried again when all he was capable of was staring off to the ground wordlessly, "Raiden, what are you doing out here?"

Again, no response. He looked lost. She'd never seen him appear so defeated and confused before since she met him, and it unnerved her to some extent. He hurriedly glimpsed around the woodland, aborting eye contact. "...I..." He choked out, although his voice appeared to have waned. Now he didn't exactly know why he was here. The screaming had subsided. The woods were quiet. Throwing his glance to the side, he mumbled out, "I heard a noise, so I left the shack to investigate. It was a woman...she said her son had been taken by cyborgs and asked me to save him."

"Woman? What woman?"

He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he attempted to explain himself. "I...er...it was over there." He gestured to the direction he'd left the woman and Harrie followed the direction of his finger. She gave him an incredulous look in response and he wondered if Harrie had seen the woman he'd left behind. Groaning slightly, Raiden put a hand to his face.

"...You...saw a_ woman_ who asked you to save her son?"

"Yeah." How come when Harrie said it, it sounded incredibly ridiculous to the ears? He almost cringed.

"I didn't see anyone back there. I didn't see anything."

"I heard noises...but I didn't see anything either. I couldn't see anything." He replied; although he was wondering why he was still arguing his case. She gave him another worried glance but he hastily tucked his blade into the sheath. "Never mind. Let's go back."

"Sure." Harrie mumbled, giving Raiden another concerned look as he trudged over to her side, and with a hand placed gingerly behind her back, he began to escort her out of the clearing they were in.

"Stay close, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

He mustered the bravery to ask, "Was I...hallucinating? Imagining things?"

She pursed her lips in thought, "Well, if you say you saw and heard something, then I believe you."

He turned to her in mild surprise and in return, she gave him a lopsided, small smile of reassurance. "What? You think you've gone mad? Or seen a ghost?" She punched him in the shoulder gently, "There's no such thing as ghosts, Raiden."

He nodded. "That woman died in my arms. I swear she was flesh and blood." Raiden muttered, "...She had the same chip you have; it was on her neck too."

Harrie glanced at him from the corner of her eye once more. "Oh." She suddenly said, and then - "You jerk! What do you think you're doing anyway? You left me alone! Jerk!" She began beating her clenched fists against his chest; she wasn't strong enough to hurt him but she was still throttling him angrily.

"Ahh, yeah...oof!" He winced as Harrie punched him in one metal rib, "Er...sorry..."

As she pummelled him with her tiny fists, she was beginning to wipe away at her eyes as well. Was she crying? "Not good enough! Don't do that again! I was scared! I was really scared!"

He cringed. "Harrie, sorry, I—" A hand clamped around his mouth and he glanced down at Harrie who had suddenly stopped crying and had stopped in her tracks. He turned to her expectantly, but she sniffed the air, taking a deep inhale, and then slowly, she removed her palm and he croaked out, "What is it?"

"...Do you...smell something?"

"Like what?"

Again, she sniffed the air noisily, then gagged and slammed a hand over her own mouth. "Eurgh! What is...what is that _smell_?"

As Harrie covered her nose with her own hands, Raiden followed her example and inhaled cautiously. At first, his keen senses picked up something very light and faint, but as he walked forwards, the stench hit him like a pile of bricks to the head. A nauseating, pungent and foul, unpleasant odor had clawed its way into his functioning nostrils, assaulting his sensors from all four corners. However, as vile as the stench was, Raiden couldn't help but remember where he had come across a revolting smell like this one before. Mirroring Harrie's action, he let out a slight choke from the back of his throat and turned to her.

"You smell it too, right?" She said wobbly, her voice muffled behind her clamped palms.

He nodded, then made a step forwards to venture deeper into the undergrowth.

She blinked at him in surprise. "Raiden, what are you doing? You're not going to try and find out where its coming from, are you?"

"Stay here."

Harrie let out a muffled snort next. "Screw that." She trailed behind him meekly; eventually, Raiden came to a stop after a few paces forwards and Harrie peered up at him inquisitively, wondering why he'd halted. It was then she noticed the smell had grown ten times and now she could hear distinct buzzing noises. "...Raiden? Can we turn back?"

They might discover something they would regret, yet Raiden pushed through the low branches of the tree and the bushes and stepped into the clearing ahead. Again, Harrie followed after him, not wanting to be left behind. The buzzing grew louder, and now it dawned to them that the noises were emitting from large black flies in the atmosphere. Lifting her hands away from her nose, the overwhelming smell of it all made her turn the way she'd come from and she rushed to a tree, gagging even louder than before whilst Raiden merely stood and stared at the rotting gorefest in front of them.

He stared at the numerous bodies strewn before him.

He'd seen something like this before when he was in Liberia. It was a long time ago, but the scene before him resembled an incident he'd bore witness when he was less than ten years old - Enemy soldiers, who were killed in the middle of the night when they were resting at camp – Raiden's group found their bodies and deducted they'd been dead for a few days. The bloody corpses lying untouched in careless positions and the fact that they still had plenty of ammo left told him they'd been completely taken by surprise by their attackers. They were still in their uniforms too. Raiden and his group quickly salvaged whatever they could and left them, moving on without a second glance at the bloodshed left behind.

But this...

Whilst Harrie heaved out the tuna she'd downed through her gullet a few hours ago into a bush nearby, Raiden glanced around and took a step forwards. He didn't know if this was the group where the woman originated from but it appeared to tip heavily in the favor. He saw madness in her eyes, and although he didn't detect any smell off her or anything else bizarre aside from her hysteria, he sensed something was amiss.

There were a total of four corpses in the camp. One was bent over a log, what had been a human being was now a skeleton with dark flesh hanging off the bone. Raiden could make it out that it was dressed in soldier attire. Another corpse was lying upright against a fallen tree trunk, head hanging low. Again, another dressed in soldier garb. Two bodies sat slumped against one another. They were civilians. Raiden glanced around the ruined camp, staring at the burnt ashes where they'd made a fire, the belongings that were lying messily over the ground. He wondered what had happened – a cyborg attack? A fight amongst their own?

He walked forwards, finding a small backpack on the floor. He lifted the tattered bag up and out dropped a book onto the ground, along with a few bullets which he recognized to be from an AK47 and some other amenities. Raiden picked up the book and something wet dripped over his fingertips – he realized it was blood – and he also saw that it belonged to a child, with the word 'Spud' on the cover written in crayon. He flipped over the first page and saw a crayon drawing of a house and what looked like a car.

_A child was here_, he thought. _But I don't see its body..._

"Harrie." Raiden said, replacing the book back into the bag.

He was met with silence.

"Harrie?"

He turned to where Harrie had been – only to see that she had vanished. "Harrie?!" Glancing around, Raiden saw the bushes rustling to his right a distance away. Abandoning the bag, Raiden burst into a sprint. "Harrie –"

A furious jolt of electricity suddenly exploded within him and Raiden doubled over, collapsing to the ground. His legs were rendered to jelly instantaneously and with no control over his own movements, he lay convulsing. He hadn't noticed at all, but as he quaked uncontrollably on the ground, he saw a thin black wire attached to a little hook that was wedged in between one of the gaps in his leg armor. He didn't even feel it latching onto him, and he had no idea where it had come from. "W...what..." He croaked out shakily, still trembling uselessly.

The wire reeled back, as though pulled away by an invisible force, and before he blacked out, he saw a tall, dark figure approach him...

* * *

><p>"Raiden!"<p>

_That voice..._

"Raiden!"

_...Huh...Harrie?_

"Raiden!" The voice continued to exclaim, "Help!"

Raiden violently jerked out of his sleep to the sound of screaming with a sharp tug of his head; he rammed the crown of his skull against a low ceiling and winced, shaking his head to blot out the minuscule pain. The screaming was growing louder in volume now and as his vision cleared, he saw thick black bars in vertical rows in front of him. He was in a cage.

"Raiden!" screamed a familiar voice nearby, "Help me!"

His eyes widened as soon as he saw Harrie being dragged out of a cage similar to his; a man dressed in a shaggy trenchcoat and dark slacks was dragging her by the hair and she was struggling violently against his hold. Bruises on her face and arms showed that something had happened before he came to but what it was, he wasn't quite sure. "Harrie!" He attempted to make a grab at the bars, only to realize one of his arms were missing, wires poking out of his right shoulder blade. Again, what happened to him before he came to was also a mystery. He grabbed at the bar with his one hand, his fingers clinching tightly around the cool steel. He gawked at the helpless girl who was now deposited into the center of the room, surrounded by the rest of the men. An uncomfortable sensation made its presence known in his gut as he watched the scene.

Bandits.

They'd been captured by bandits.

He had no idea where they were, but it appeared to be another wooden shack of some sort. He could also see that it was still nighttime outside, and he spotted their belongings in one corner, sitting atop a pile of other backpacks. No doubt, they were taken from other unsuspecting travelers like themselves. He also saw his severed arm by the pile too; his HF blade was nowhere to be seen with the other bags, but he spotted it in the hands of a bald, unshaven and dirty, grubby bandit who was waving it around in a fashion that made him both cringe and seethe with fury at the same time. He tried to make sense of the situation – When they saw the camp with all the dead bodies, was that the work of the bandits? Could that have been one of their victims...their traps into luring more prey into their grasp?

"Let me go first!"

"No, me!"

The ruckus of male voices broke him out of his thoughts and he watched, as the men's leery, beetle-like eyes settled onto the girl; they had her surrounded entirely and she meekly lifted herself up and pulled her knees to her chest, before trying to inch backwards. Almost immediately, the man who had pulled her out of her cage had decided to move first and was trying to push her to the ground.

Raiden sprang upwards at once and began to throw himself against the bars as he watched. "Get your hands off her! Don't you dare touch her!"

The men ignored him.

"Raiden!" She was screaming, as they descended upon her and she was struggling futilely against them; they were animals, laughing and jeering as they started tearing and ripping at her clothes. No use. Her struggling was futile no matter how much she tried to kick, bite and punch. He could hear her sobbing now as the man was all over her, his lips pressing against the side of her face and neck, almost impervious to her resistance. "No, stop, no-!"

His mind was ablaze with anger and fury and he clutched at his head with his one hand. _No! Why is this happening? Why can I never protect anyone? I let N'mani die right before my eyes! I let Richmond die, too! I promised him...I need to take care of Harrie...but I let her almost die at the hands of the RAY, I let her get hurt by that cyborg called Tetsuo...And now this is...Harrie is going to be... Harrie is...I do the best I can...I fight...I fight so damned hard... but why does this happen all the time!? W-why can I never-?_

His eyes went wide.

_WHY?!_

"You know what you must do, Jack!" A sinister voice suddenly screeched at him from nowhere.

Raiden ignored the voice, throwing himself even harder against his confinement in a vain attempt to break free. What was this cage made out of anyway? How come he could not break out?

"I could. I could do it. You know that!" The voice continued to taunt him.

_If I don't do anything, then Harrie is going to be..._

"You? What can_ you_ do? You are good for nothing! You're useless! You've always have been, and you will always be!"

His grip on the bar fell loose. "...I..."

"I'm right, aren't I? There is nothing you can do! Without me, you are nothing!"

His head throbbing, Raiden squeezed his eyes shut and clamped his hand over his ear, shaking his head side to side slowly, "No...it can't...It can't...I...Nnnhh...nghhh_...R-Rose_...I...I...ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Surrendering to the primal voice that was screaming within him, Raiden threw his head back and belted out a roar before averting his attention to the cage; as though possessed by some force, he used all the strength he could muster and slammed himself into the cage. It collapsed against the sheer force of his attack and he came crashing out. Everyone stopped in their tracks, temporarily halted by the anguished, angered cry that had shaken the walls only to see the cyborg outside the cage they'd had locked him in. They watched him in steely, stunned silence as the cyborg slowly rose from his knees, his head hanging low. Then, he began chuckling and finally looked up, his eyes stained with a faint tinge of red.

Harrie stared wordlessly as her captors held her down against the floorboards. _...Raiden?_

Frightened, one of the men lunged at the cyborg before he could move. It was the bandit who had taken his HF blade.

The cyborg merely stood until the man approached him emitting a screeching battle cry and Harrie saw Raiden twitch ever so slightly, his eyes narrowing into slits; his claw curled into a tight ball and in seconds there was a guttural cry and the man who had attempted to attack suddenly exploded in a glorious spray of red... and Raiden stood as the blood splashed over his hair and the side of his face, his claw soaked with blood. The man collapsed to the ground, torn apart, the blade dropping out of hand.

Apparently undeterred by the violent demise of one of their comrades, three men came charging at him with their weapons in hands. Raiden allowed them to circle him, still standing motionless until one man made a meager step forwards. In a flash, he'd darted forwards, snatching the HF blade that rightfully belonged to him up off the ground and as the man swung at him, Raiden brought the blade sweeping across him in a radiant arch and the man fell backwards, stumbling carelessly on his feet before he promptly fell apart, having been sliced into two neat halves. Despite missing one arm, Raiden was not burdened by the handicap and focused onto the next assailant. Another man suffered a kinder fate – Raiden slashed him across the chest before finishing him off with a stab through the gut. The final lackey was sliced through the waist cleanly.

Covered in gore and blood, Raiden held up his blade but this time, did not throw away the bloody remains off the cool steel, opting to keep them there fresh and dripping. With a manic, twisted grin etched on his bloodstained face, he turned to the remaining men. "_Who's next?_" He snarled, "_Who wants to DIE?_"

The man in the trenchcoat and black slacks – apparently the leader - turned to the rest of his men. "Well? Don't just stand there! Go! Kill him!"

He was met with silence. His men were too afraid to approach, watching the cyborg with trembling eyes. "Uh...um..." stammered one man, his fingers tightening around the handle of his baseball bat. "B-boss, are you sure you want us to..."

"Get in there!" He kicked him in the rear and he went flying towards the cyborg, yelling out in panic.

Raiden's eyes flashed, the same demonic red tinge flickering like a burning flame. As the man stumbled towards him, Raiden sliced his outstretched arm off and the man screamed, cradling the stump of his elbow where his arm should've been. He managed one second to glance up at the cyborg just before Raiden thrust the sword into his chest and twisted before ripping it back out that a thin stream of blood followed the movement. With a choked cry, the man stopped wriggling and lay, unmoving.

Finally, the rest of the men began to scatter, fearful for their own pitiful lives. Abandoning their hold on Harrie, they began to retreat.

"Cowards!" yelled the leader, as his men began to disperse, running towards the direction of the exit, "Cowards, get back h-"

He was promptly silenced once Raiden's blade met his neck, the tip of his blade slashing across his throat and lodging deep into his windpipe. Raiden watched the head sailing through the air before it bounced over the floorboards, stopping to roll by Harrie's side. She screamed and crawled away, away from the fresh puddle of blood that seeped underneath the torn neck and into the ground below. His death was almost swift and kind, compared to the other men under his command who had suffered a more painful fate by Raiden's sword. Raiden stepped over the body he'd just decapitated, following after the men who had decided to escape; they were now trying to barge through the exit all at once, fighting and yelling amongst each other in a bid to escape; one was busy trying to unlock the shack with the keys in his shaking hand - and ultimately dropped them. Harrie glanced up as Raiden trudged past her – a part of her was terrified he would attack her too – but he didn't even seem to have noticed her as he chased after the men, taking one down after the other – anyone within his grasp was not safe. Raiden was slaughtering them all without batting an eyelid.

Harrie watched the carnage that was happening before her eyes wordlessly. Blood splattered over the walls, bodies crashed over the floor in a heap, gore and guts were sent sprawling over the ground. Harrie stared with wide eyes, unable to tear her gaze away from the scene as Raiden sliced and slashed, cackling with laughter the entire time.

_...This...this is...__just like when my parents..._

Seized with fear, she curled up tightly into a ball on the floor. She clamped her hands over the sides of her head and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to blot out the noise of the massacre taking place in the background.

* * *

><p>Eeeek! Yes, so this chapter was sooooo difficult to write! Mainly because of the implied...cough...rape and Raiden going nuts and killin' everybody. I tried to make it as vague as possible because I didn't want to write what was about to happen to Harrie here but basically what happened was Raiden came across a woman in the middle of the night who said her son was taken by cyborgs, he tries to find the kid but only comes across a deserted camp with dead bodies - humans who'd been killed some time ago since they're all rotting and stuff...<p>

Harrie is with him, and they get ambushed by an unseen party which turns out to be bandits (not Sam's people). They locked Raiden in a cage but they try to get their way with Harrie cos you know...the world is all gone down the crapper, there's probably like no women and people are just generally wacked up and not right in the head anymore, so as Raiden laments his uselessness in that situation, he loses himself and lets his Jack the Ripper person free and begins killing everyone.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone, I have a new chapter for you guys :) And thanks for the reviews. This story has changed to a T now. Please enjoy!

PS. _Somewhere I belong_ is the title of a Linkin Park song. It's pretty awesome and it seems to fit this chapter's theme. Urgh it's getting difficult to write this. Raiden has much emotional baggage in this fic.

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><p><strong>SOMEWHERE I BELONG<strong>

The door opened and loud, heavy footsteps echoed in the hall.

"My lord." said Tetsuo, as he strode into the library without further ado only to see the man sitting in a large, comfortable two seater, flicking through a book lazily. "You asked to see me."

The man put down the book he had been reading on the table beside the couch. _A Brief History of_ _Les Enfants Terribles_, it said on the cover. Tetsuo's database informed him that it was once a United States Government project that undertook during the 1970's with the sole aim to create impeccable clones modelled from a legendary soldier known as 'Big Boss'_. _"Tetsuo." He said, "Now that you've returned, you can tell me what happened."

"Yes. Of course, my lord." replied Tetsuo, his voice was muffled but still thick and hoarse behind his mask. After his return to the Capital and he did not waste a minute getting rebuilt albeit with new enhancements. Tetsuo concentrated in staring at the marbled floor, the lord's massive shadow forming a giant, hulking dark shape before his very eyes. "...I did not defeat him."

"Who?"

"Raiden."

"Raiden?" The man quipped at the cyborg sharply, "The cyborg ninja?"

"Yes."

When the library fell silent, Tetsuo looked up again when he deemed it safe to do so. The lord was gazing intently at the book he'd just placed on the table. "Raiden." He murmured before his fist curled and he slammed it over the table's surface. It collapsed under the sheer force inevitably but he paid no notice; Tetsuo immediately lowered his gaze to the ground. "Impossible! How can he be alive after all those years?! You are sure it was him? It was? But...but how? I searched all four corners of the earth, day and night, and not one single RAY, Gekko or REX..."

"There is no record that Raiden passed away, nor had his family members or allies declared his status as deceased." Tetsuo said, "The last codec outlining his actions...he was waging a one-man war against a Private Military Company known as World Marshal. It took him more than fifty years to finally bring all their actions to a stop."

When it fell silent, Tetso glanced up.

"...Was he with anyone?" murmured the lord, after the long, tepid silence.

Tetsuo replied, "He was with a young human girl; my database informed me she is the one who escaped our confinement with the _IF-HM-38d__._ I have installed the Extraction device on her."

"Very good. This girl...she has crossed our paths before...yes, I remember now; she took one of my prototypes and reprogrammed him...and now she has found Raiden..." The lord muttered,

"Tetsuo."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Bring her to me." The lord said, turning away from the cyborg, "...I want you to bring her to me, alive."

* * *

><p>It was quiet.<p>

Harrie sat up.

A figure was returning to her, making its way through the doorway and stalking towards her direction. She scrabbled backwards, her gaze fixated at the doorway only to see Raiden returning to the shack. He was breathing heavily, his one arm gripping the HF blade tightly in hand. Blood dripped relentlessly down the sheath to the tip of the blade, creating a trail of little red spots over the dirty floorboards. The aura he had exhibited previously was positively a murderous one. Panting, he took one step towards her. His killing spree was over; he'd killed the last of the bandits in gruesome fashion and now it was just Harrie and the cyborg. He was back to normal. No longer did he appear possessed, with his eyes glazed and glassy and that demonic aura radiating off him.

No...Raiden was definitely back to normal now, or so she hoped.

He wandered towards her and Harrie glanced up at him, clutching her torn clothes tighter to herself, trying to cover up the skin that was exposed. Raiden stopped in front of her. She stared at him, he stared at her...and then he thrust the sword into the floor, the blade wedged deeply into the wood and slowly, he moved himself down to one knee. He balanced his one palm over the hilt of the sword and lowered his head in a bow. A few seconds passed but Raiden did not move. She reached out for him warily; her hand was shaking and her palm finally made contact with his shoulder.

She felt him tense, but he said not a word. Harrie continued to rub his shoulder, a little awkwardly because she didn't really understand herself as to why she was doing such a thing – but then Raiden lurched forwards and she pulled her hands backwards in fright. His head dropped into her lap and she blinked wide-eyed into space as he collapsed over the floor, sprawled out.

Blood pooled out underneath him but it was not his own. She threw her glance around the rest of the shack at the mangled corpses surrounding them, then glanced down to the cyborg in her lap. His eyes were closed and she realized that he was out cold. Unleashing his Jack the Ripper persona must've taken a toll on him, or maybe he was genuinely exhausted from the events of the day. She moved her hand to rest on the top of his head and ran her fingers through the thick strands of his white blond hair before she held him close to her. Harrie inspected the severed joint where his missing arm should be then glanced around the rest of the shack again meekly. She was sniffling quietly to herself, not wanting to cry as she contemplated how helpless she felt at the precise moment.

And just then, a soft, tawny-orange glow slowly rose from the dark horizon and warm light poured through the desiccated windows of the shack they were confined in. She had to shield her eyes from the blinding light as it seeped into the shack; the light was intense, sweeping over Raiden as he lay on the ground, bathing his pale bloodied form in an almost comforting soft glow.

Harrie looked up again to stare outside the window and sat still, watching the sunrise silently.

...

"Foi dues...que me entregou de presente voce...Eu que sonhava um dia viver...Um grande amor assim, foi – "

Sam stopped when he saw the bandit's shack up ahead. He'd ventured into dangerous territory on a whim from one of his men who returned from a patrol, reporting to him hysterically last night about a disturbance – now he found himself wandering to a location primarily known to be controlled by the most evillest, cruellest, ruthless of all bandits he'd come across in his relatively short life – but he sensed something amiss and continued forwards; he'd never wander so far away from his own territory but something was definitely wrong here. The overwhelming rancid stench of fresh blood was one of them, and as he neared the site, he cautiously pulled out his blade from his sheath and brought it in front of him.

Since his entire life, all Sam knew was that he had to defend himself no matter what. The world had never been a friendly place and he didn't quite remember a time when he didn't think that today or tomorrow could be his last. However, when the cyborg and the girl arrived unexpectedly in their hut, it appeared to have thrown everything off track. Maybe it was the fleeting feeling that he was sick of living in such a habitual lifestyle...having to organize his men into parties every morning, afternoon and evening... having to make sure they gathered enough food to last for one night only to go foraging again the next...rinse and repeat the process until he would breathe his final breath, he supposed. The monotony of it all had been getting to him, and day after day he was wondering why he was becoming so frustrated and angry. And now he knew why when the cyborg came strolling in.

They were heading to the Resistance. They were fighting for survival, knowing that the odds were against them. How exciting, he thought, because he'd never thought twice about allying himself with the likes of other humans out there for a change. It never crossed his mind since he was so snugly and comfortable here in Shadow Mountain Lake. Perhaps the cyborg and the girl had shown a way out of his dismal life...but what about his men? What would they do without their leader? Would they crumble and fall?

"Maybe, maybe not." He mused under his breath, as he strode closer to the shack. Besides, they were grown adults and could look after themselves. They all just looked up to Sam for a strange reason. He had the traits of a leader, apparently.

The door was open when he arrived, and inside the shack he saw the same girl from before and the cyborg who was lying in her lap, apparently sleeping or unconscious. Once he entered, the girl's eyes widened and she grabbed a HF blade that was covered in blood and held it up. "Stop!" She exclaimed, "Take one more step and I'll—"

"Relax, chica." He interjected, as he noticed how terrified she looked by his mere arrival. "I'm not going to hurt you. What's wrong with blondie?" He reached forwards and used the tip of his sword to prod at the back of the cyborg's head as he lay face down in her lap. It was all rather comical.

"Don't!" She swatted away the sword and stared up at him warily as he glanced around the shack, staring at the countless of bodies and the unmistakeable smell of death that was lingering in the air.

"...You are responsible for all this?" He muttered, now he was using his blade to poke at a headless body that had fallen near a dusty old cabinet. From the clothes, he recognized it to be the leader of the bandits. "What happened?"

He was met with a hostile hiss from the girl at his statement; he didn't blame her, of course. She continued clutching the hilt of the blade tightly in her grasp.

Sam averted attention from the corpses and studied the girl's face for a long time; she looked hysterical, her eyes wide and trembling, skin pasty and pallid in color. His lips ultimately cracked into a grin by how terrified she was of him. "Relax, chica. I won't hurt you." The girl cautiously threw her glance down to the cyborg in her lap wordlessly. "Chica." He added, "What is your name?"

She said nothing.

"Where do you come from?"

Again, silence.

"Come on, chica, I'm not a bad person. Now, these men I see dead before me...they were_ bad_. They looked after this section of the mountain, you know? They murdered anyone who passed by their territory." He muttered as he took one step forwards.

"Stop! Stop right there!" She screamed, inching away as he neared; she was panting heavily, obviously in distress. It was then she was also trying to hold up her badly torn clothes, her fair skin showing through the ripped rags. He didn't think it was that hard to guess what had happened here after all.

He remained rooted in his spot, wondering how to approach this. With a shake of his head, he said, "What are you doing out here anyway? This is no place for a woman. At this rate, you won't last another day." Sam finally moved to squat down and she inched backwards slightly despite their distance. "Chica, I know you don't trust me...but if I really wanted to harm you, I would've done so a long time ago. Now put the sword down, okay?"

She glanced at his blade in hand in response. "You put yours down first."

"Okay, okay." Sam lowered his sword onto the ground and held his arms up. "Now it's your turn."

The girl threw her glance to the side, but then with renewed grip on the bloodied HF blade, she thrust the tip towards his direction, determined to keep up her guard up. As she moved her head, he noticed the black chip that was stuck on her neck. He remembered seeing it stuck on her before, too.

"That chip," He gestured to it accordingly, "It is cyborg technology. How long has it been there? Who did it to you?"

She blinked at him enquiringly, then she croaked out, "...It's only been there for a day. A cyborg named Tetsuo put it in me."

"Tetsuo." Sam muttered under his breath, "I have heard about him. He is one of the Generals. That chip...you know what it does, right?"

He was met with silence for a brief while, but then... "N-no...Not really." She squeaked out.

"It drains you." He replied, but she already had a feeling it was along the likes of those. "It will drain you of your energy and lifeforce, until you are nothing but a lifeless husk. Once the number reaches zero, your life is over."

"And why didn't he just kill me on the spot?"

"Ah," Sam added, "Wait, I am not finished yet. The chip...it also drains knowledge."

"Knowledge?"

He nodded. "I have seen it before with my very own eyes. A chip like that was also stuck on one of my men. He was very smart. He knew a lot about cybernetics and he was our designated technician and weapons expert. One day he accidentally got caught by a cyborg and had that chip plugged into his neck – just like yours – and he labored day and night to find a way to remove it, but as time passed, he found himself forgetting things and slowly, it drove him insane. He was delusional, yelling and screaming like a madman. Like a disease, it had destroyed his mind... and then it killed him."

"Knowledge." The girl uttered, "...But what do the cyborgs want? And from me? I don't know anything."

"You look young, chica, but I'm correct in saying that you are no ordinary girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"For someone your age, you must be very bright and you must do something very well. What do you excel in?"

It appeared she was beginning to calm down slightly. "...I-I don't know. I can't explain it...but ever since I was born, I..." She glimpsed down at the unconscious cyborg in her lap again, "...I knew what to do...I knew how to fix him. I knew it all. No-one taught me, not even my parents. They died when I was young. I just knew. It came to me, naturally."

And Sam said, "There you have it."

...

Raiden watched the screen in front of him – he could see Harrie speaking with Sam in the rundown shack – and he couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable from witnessing their interaction. From his end, it appeared Sam was flirting with her...and Harrie wasn't doing anything about it, either. Nope, the girl appeared oblivious and was chatting away to him as if they'd been friends for a long time. Rose was by his side, noticing how agitated he appeared.

"Jack? Are you okay?" She asked.

He averted attention from the mechanic on screen to the woman sitting beside him in the dark aisle. "...I killed those men."

"You had no choice." Rose assured.

"You think so?"

She nodded. He didn't think she would approve or agree with him. As though reading his mind, she said, "Even if I said you were wrong, you can't change what's happened."

"...Do you...do you think...well, is she scared of me now?"

Rose shook her head.

"I can't do it. I can't protect her." He muttered, defeated.

"Yes, you can."

"No." He growled, fists clinching tightly that his fingernails dug into his palms. The funny thing was that in the deepest darkest corners of his consciousness, in this cinema-style data bank, he was human, with skin, flesh and fingernails... definitely not a cyborg. "I can't protect anyone," He muttered, "I'm no good."

Rose peered at him inquisitively as he squeezed his eyes shut, head low. "But you saved Sunny, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And George? You remember him, don't you?"

"I didn't save him; I...I had to cut him in half!" He exclaimed in exasperation.

"But in the end, his life was still saved."

"It doesn't matter." He replied; with that, he glanced up as Rose gave him a questioning look. He sighed under his breath inevitably and turned away. "So? What about N'mani? What about Richmond?"

"What's happened has happened, Jack, and none of those were your fault. Haven't we spoken about this before?"

He nodded limply. "...I'm sorry, but it just keeps coming up. It won't go away."

"It won't go away... Of course it won't...If you try to forget it ever happened, then that will truly be an awful thing to do...but at the same time, you can't let it upset you; you have to come to understand that it happened in the past and you are a lot stronger now. It's not making excuses or running away...You need to learn from your mistakes so it doesn't happen again. You need to keep moving forwards."

A small, wry smile appeared on his face and he turned to his wife. "You're very good at what you do."

She smiled in response, then placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbed it affectionately then stood up. Raiden had been forced into involuntarily unconsciousness again after Jack the Ripper came leaping out, confined here to helplessly watch the massacre behind, what he could only describe as, a closed curtain.

"As much as I enjoy our conversations," said Rose, "We cannot speak to each other like this again."

He sat up abruptly in his seat. "What do you mean?"

"You are here because you lost control and you let him take over. It's dangerous. Jack, promise me this will never happen again, for Harrie's safety and for your own?"

He watched his wife wordlessly, then shook his head. "I can't guarantee that, Rose."

In response, she put her hand on his shoulder delicately. "Have a little faith in yourself."

"...Harrie told me it's been more than a hundred years. And I remember that day when I came to see you. The last time I saw you...I saw your grandchildren, I saw your husband. You looked happy. John looked happy." He said, and Rose's eyes widened; retreating her hands, she moved them over her mouth. "You looked so happy, and I knew I would never be the one who would be able to make you smile like that. I made your life miserable. We were all miserable when we were together."

"Jack! How could you say those things?!"

He kept on going as though he had no control of himself, ignoring the cries of his wife, "And this...right now, with you being here...All of this..._you_...It's not real, but...but I..."

"Oh, Jack, please don't-!" The AI rushed towards him and wrapped her arms around him. "Jack, stop saying those things! I love you. I've always loved you and I always will!"

He fought to hold the tears but to no avail; biting down on his lower lip, he glanced around the dark room, his eyes blurring. He grunted and used one hand to smother at the corner of his wet eyes, but still held on, not wanting the tears to spill. Even though he was being cruel and cold towards this AI the same way he once was with Rose, he couldn't help himself. Shutting her out, harming her, causing her to think that he was having an affair, arguing, being spiteful, getting drunk and in bar fights... he didn't even know why he did all those things. Coping mechanism or not, he didn't even know if it was because he hated himself or hated Rose for being supportive and sticking by his side. Denying himself of happiness...not knowing what he had until he lost it...

He stood still in her embrace before finally enveloping his arms around her. "...I love you." He finally croaked out, "I wanted to say those words to you all those years but I couldn't. I just couldn't. I hated myself, and I didn't understand why you wanted to still be with me. I was scared...and I didn't want to hurt you again, so I ran. I ran away and left you behind. I left you and Little John behind." Breaking down on his spot as his guilt consumed him, he lowered himself to his knees whilst Rose cradled his head, closing her eyes as he choked out, "I love you so much. I love you and Little John so much. But it's too late now because you're gone and this is the only way I can...This is the only way I can see you...I don't want to go, I don't want to go back to that place..."

Rose held him tightly, smoothing her hands over his hair, "Jack, it's okay...it's okay..."

Even if the AI was nothing but an illusion, even if it was acting on Rose's memories of him, or his memories of Rose...it felt very real to him and he clung to her, not wanting her to go.


	13. Chapter 13

Why Hullo there. Long time no see! I haven't updated for donkeys. I'm sorry! Partially I updated because of my reviewers :) Thank you so much for all the support. It really kickstarted my lazy butt back into action and whilst I had a bit of a difficult time writing this next part, I just needed to get it out my system! I'm sorry it's so short...but for now, ENJOY!

And sorry for the dorkyness of today's title. Just think of it as an RPG game and you get this little message after a certain event...

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><p><strong>SAM HAS JOINED THE PARTY!<strong>

Raiden groaned and opened his eyes blearily. His vision adjusted to the scene before him; there was Harrie and a familiar, scruffy-looking dark-haired man staring inquisitively at him. Sam. Jetstream Sam. Sam didn't seem pleased, however, for he was gazing at him with his hooded dark eyes whilst Harrie let out a sigh of relief upon his awakening.

"Raiden!" She exclaimed, as he tried to sit up. She ended up having to assist him, grabbing him by his one arm and lifting up off the floor so he could sit against the wall; Raiden glanced warily around the room before throwing his gaze to his severed arm despondently.

"Harrie. Are you alright?" He said.

She nodded briefly in response. She was dressed in new clothes - a dirty brown, ragged hoodie complete with a moldy gray t-shirt underneath. It didn't feel any different than the usual clothes she wore as she still looked as bland and weary as ever. It must've been salvaged from one of the bandit's 'treasure' in the corner since he noticed that a lot of the stolen backpacks that were piled up atop another appeared to have been ransacked and emptied. "Yeah," She replied, "Are you okay?"

He nodded.

"I'm so glad you're alright."

"...I'm sorry." He murmured, "I'm sorry, for what happened."

She let out an inaudible sigh. "Don't be silly." To his surprise, she reached forwards and wrapped her arms around him in a loose embrace; immediately he went as stiff as a statue from the contact. "I thought I lost you," She added, "...I was scared."

After a few seconds, he finally allowed himself to relax somewhat and awkwardly pat her on the back with his one remaining hand. "Sorry." He repeated, as they pulled away.

"It's okay."

"But I..."

"You did the right thing. I would've died if it wasn't for you. So thank you, for saving my life. Not once, but many times." She murmured, and he met her gaze. She stared at him softly in response.

Sam let out a sigh at their display, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "...I'll give you two lovebirds some alone-time."

Harrie aborted eye contact immediately, cheeks reddening. "What! N-No, Mr Sam, you've got the wrong idea – we're not – it wasn't – "

Whilst the girl spluttered and choked, Raiden emitted another groan and rubbed at his temple with his hand. He could see piles and piles of dead bodies littering the shack. The stench of blood was strong. He saw the guts and gore and was astounded that she was not cringing or terrified of him. Why were they still here? Heck, had Harrie been waiting for him to wake up? Foolish girl. What if cyborgs came?

Sam started to chuckle and Raiden attempted to stand; again, he had to use Harrie for balance, with his one arm swung over her shoulder. With much difficulty, she hoisted him off the floor to stand where he swayed on his wobbling legs, glaring at the Brazilian. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?" He barked.

Sam's lips cracked into a grin. "Does it matter? You two amateurs won't last a single day in the frontier without my help."

"Help? Whoever said we needed your help?" The cyborg rebuked fiercely.

Harrie threw her glance to the floor meekly as she helped him keep his balance. "Um, Raiden, actually I...I've asked if Mr Sam could come with us."

"Why?" The cyborg exclaimed. He wasn't panicking over the reason whether Harrie had asked for Sam's assistance was because she thought Raiden was no longer fit and could no longer protect her. Inwardly, he didn't blame her.

Harrie sheepishly slid her gaze to him and as if reading her mind, she said, "...Sam knows what it's like out there and I don't. I have no clue. I could get us both in deep trouble." She admitted, "I'm completely out of my comfort zone. He's right, Raiden...we won't last another day in the wilderness like this. We'll die."

His gaze softened abruptly at her bluntness. "...Harrie..."

Sam let out a chuckle and went over to pat her heartily on the back which had her smiling weakly at him, "Well, you two are stuck with me whether you like it or not. I have decided to accompany you regardless."

Raiden let go of Harrie and limped over to him, standing so close that they were now nose-to-nose, eye to eye; Sam seemed unfazed by this action and merely stared back into Raiden's eyes relentlessly, unblinkingly. Meanwhile, Harrie gawped helplessly at the situation before she wiggled in between them and stood between the two men, placing both hands on her chest to split them apart. "Okay, I sense a lot of bad blood here. That's all gonna stop now – "

The cyborg shifted Harrie away from Sam and ushered her behind him. "We're perfectly fine; we don't need your help. You're not coming with us." The cyborg growled at Sam in a low murmur.

And Sam merely chuckled and said, "Blondie, you should really listen to your little girlfriend."

"You're NOT coming with us." Raiden proceeded to snarl, before he grabbed Harrie's hand – without realizing what he had just did – and he was dragging her out of the shack, limping slightly. "We're going."

"Wait-" Before Harrie could finish her sentence, Raiden had unceremoniously lost balance and toppled over, crashing against the doorway of the shack. He blinked wide-eyed at himself before scrabbling to stand. With only one arm, his balance was severely thrown off. Growling from the back of his throat, he threw a cold glare at Sam who had released a howl of laughter at the display. Frustrated and angry, he pushed himself off and again tried to storm out only for Harrie to grab him by the shoulder. "...Raiden, wait; you're hurt. I need to fix you."

"_I'm fine_."

"Chica," came Sam's lazy drawl, "You either fix or leave him. A one-armed cyborg isn't really helpful."

With Sam's remark, she turned to him helplessly. "Raiden, please listen to me."

He said nothing, but he allowed Harrie to prop him against the wall of the shack. She fetched his severed arm from the treasure heap and began inching his arm into place immediately, sticking his arm into the respective slot. He tried not to wince, staring bitterly to the side whilst Sam busied himself in emptying heaps of treasure that were left behind by the bandits into his own bag. Meanwhile, Harrie used the tools she had found, fixing them together to create a strange, makeshift crowbar-like appendage which she used to attach his severed arm back into its joint. With some screws sticking out of her mouth, she began attaching his arm into its rightful place and when that task was complete, she was holding two thin wires in both hands. One red, one blue.

"Easy now...easy does it..." She murmured, trying to angle the wires together.

"What are you doing?" Sam's voice echoed in her ear and she leapt; he had taken the liberty to squat down beside her, lingering close.

"Eep!" Harrie squeaked and the two wires in her hands clashed together. Immediately, Raiden's arm jerked into life, his fingers grappled at Harrie's throat. Her eyes bulged as soon as his rough fingers clamped over her windpipe, "Urghhh! Can't...Can't breathe!"

Once he regained full control, he let go of her and she was gasping, wide-eyed. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself." Raiden muttered under his breath.

Sucking in one noisy breath after the other, she let out a helpless sigh. "That's okay. H-How do you feel?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Raiden muttered, wriggling his wrist and fingers around. They waggled and waved in the air effortlessly; she'd did it. She'd re-attached his arm and got him up and running again. "...Thanks."

Her cheeks went slightly warm. "It's-it's nothing..."

With that, Sam sighed again as he witnessed the interaction. "Alright, let's go." He said, getting up to stand.

Before Harrie could follow Sam's action, Raiden stood up quickly and said, "I'll carry you. If we're traveling by foot, you need to save your energy. I can manage more than you can."

She blinked widely at him. "No, that's okay-" Without waiting for her to finish, Raiden lowered himself to his knees in front of her, holding his arms out behind him. Harrie stared hard at the gesture whilst Sam rubbed at the bottom of his chin. Waving her arms around, Harrie shook her head wildly. "Honestly, Raiden, I'm fine."

"Just get on."

"Shall I carry you, chica?" Sam piped up, in which Raiden responded with a snarl.

"Shut up!" Turning to the girl, he gave her an impatient look. "Get on. _Now_."

"Alright." Harrie hurriedly went over to the cyborg, climbed on and his awaiting arms curled under the bend of her knees. He stood up and she blinked dazedly as he effortlessly lifted her off the ground. She was light as a feather; he always knew girls would be a lot lighter but then he briefly recalled he'd never even carried Rose in such a manner. And when Harrie instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, he thought he felt his nerves kicking into his life and his pulse heightened. He said nothing to the arrangement however, and took a step forwards with Harrie hanging off his back. Sam grinned at them both as the cyborg carried the girl out of the shack and into the barren land.

"Mr Sam?" Harrie called, glancing at the Brazilian over her shoulder, "Aren't you coming?"

"Yes, yes..." He replied with a sigh, swinging his blade over his shoulder as he trailed after them with a faint grin on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey everyone, thanks for the continued support and reviews. I'm just going to put a barrage of stuff here because everyone can read this so here goes: Thanks to Cereza101 for the review: Yes having Sam around will mean more jokes and more bickering, I guess lol. Thanks to grandshadowseal for the review: Harrie reminds me of Sunny too haha. But this chapter might reveal s'more... Thanks to Axrel for the review: yeah I haven't updated since last year so... sorry :( But thank you for still reading this fic! -cries- Thanks to UltraVioletSoul for the super-duper long reviews and I think its great as to how much you have analyzed about this fic! Its amazing! Thanks for reviewing every chapter too :) I really appreciate it. Think you can do it again? Haha joking joking! Thanks to witch of blood for reviewing, there is more fluff to come! Thanks to The Predicate for reviewing- omg I forgot about that! Man my brain sucks :O Thanks for Valoja for reviewing: I'm so glad you are stil lreading my fics -cries- it means so much to me...

Anyhoo I got a quick update for you all today! Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS<strong>

He'd been sent on another mission.

Tetsuo folded his glaive and stuck it firmly to one side of his small aircraft. It had a small compartment and grip especially built to carry the weapon. Once he seated himself, he steered the small flightship off the dock and in seconds, he had left the capital and was in the wilderness. A few Gekkos were patrolling the land whilst some RAYs hovered overhead, ready to take down any trespassers. Tapping at the dashboard, he drew up a map and there was a little blinking red dot on one side of the diagram. His lips curled into a snicker. It looked like the cyborg and the girl hadn't traveled far from Denver, having merely passed Shadow Mountain Lake. He wondered where they were heading.

_You can run and you can hide as much as you want, but I'll find you_, he thought,_ You can't escape, Harriet Emmerich._

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

"How old are you, chica?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No. Do you know how old you are?"

"No. I lost track of the years." Sam replied, and Raiden made a noise and both Sam and Harrie turned to him. "You got something you want to say?"

"...Why are we having this conversation?" Raiden questioned.

"A little small talk can't hurt," mused Sam as he trailed beside them, his sword swinging from his belt. "And how old are you, Blondie?"

He felt uncomfortable, and as he fumbled to reply, Harrie tightened her arms around the cyborg's neck absent-mindedly. For the umpteenth time, Raiden tensed all over. "I think Raiden's more than a hundred years old."

"Then you were alive before this happened?" Sam asked.

It was strange hearing this. Raiden grunted, "You were alive too, Sam."

The Brazilian raised a dark eyebrow. "So the cyborg speaks in riddles." He murmured.

"Where did you come from, Mr Sam?"

Sam shrugged. "I came from here and there."

"Look who's talking." Raiden uttered under his breath.

And Sam let out a bark of laughter. "Fine, I get it. Me and you, Blondie. We will never get along, _compreende_? Although I don't know what I have done to deserve such hostility..."

"You just remind him of someone he used to know." Harrie said quickly. She was trying hard to diffuse the sticky tension between Sam and Raiden.

It had been like that for a few hours now. They'd left the vicinity of Shadow Mountain Lake, with no cyborgs or bandits in their way. At least two or three days had passed. It was easy to lose track of time and the timer on Harrie's neck was ticking down, fast. Once they left the woodlands they found themselves on a deserted road. Cyborg and MG-free for the time being, the trio made their way down this desolate path where they saw no-one, not even an animal or tree in sight, just mountains and dunes and sandy, rocky outlines. A rusted sign nearby said 'Idaho." and it appeared they were on a highway of some sort... and the sign also outlined the distance away in several kilometers. They still had a long way to go.

Sam didn't seem to be exhausted from their long walk. He was keeping up with them with no problem at all. Raiden hardly felt fatigue or exhaustion; he could go on for hours and hours and he could still continue, even if it was pitch black. On the other hand, Harrie was getting a little tired of being carried by Raiden. She appreciated his concern and she liked the thought of being carried (although it was a little embarrassing at first), but his metal arms around her were starting to bruise her slightly, and all in all...it was _uncomfortable_. To prevent herself from slipping off every now and then, she had to renew her grip around his neck. Everytime she did such a thing, however, she noticed that his pulse spiked somewhat.

"I have never seen you before in my entire life." Sam muttered, breaking her out of her trance, "But I have to admit, I am curious. Blondie, if you were really alive all those years ago, what was it like before all of this?"

Raiden glanced away to the downtrodden path before them. "...There were more people around, that's for sure. There were cars. Buildings. Television. Radio. Music. Internet."

"Oh!" Harrie suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "I know! I know! I know all about the internet. It was this amazing feature that computers used to have. They could use it to connect to people halfway across the world. People could look up anything and use it for anything."

"Sounds interesting." Sam commented.

"What happened?" Raiden asked.

"Cyborgs hacked it and used it as a frequency instead." Harrie replied morosely.

Raiden gave her a jilted look. "Any way we can change that?"

"...You need to find the cyborg capital. Only then can we find out what's really going on and perhaps find a way to shut them all down. I have a theory, you know. The cyborgs, I think they operate on a complicated, hive-like intranet."

Sam suddenly laughed, eyes squeezing shut with mirth. "Ha! You two speak as if you want to rid the world of all cyborgs."

Harrie and Raiden exchanged glances before they averted their gaze to him. "...Don't you want that too, Mr Sam?"

"It's an impossible feat. Ridding the world of cyborgs is akin to ridding the world of cockroaches."

"Not really. We just need to find who's behind this war." Harrie replied, although she appeared a little sullen by Sam's surprisingly carefree attitude towards this. "...Do you know anything, Mr Sam? if there is anything you do know, please share."

"No, I do not know much." He said, shrugging casually, "I just know how to get by."

"You know...Raiden's the only cyborg known to assist humans."

Sam snickered. "So that's why Blondie is so special to you."

She blushed deeply in response and began spluttering. "W-well, I – Raiden – he is, um...well – " As she fought to speak, Sam only chuckled louder whilst Raiden decided to keep quiet.

The journey continued.

"Stop!" Harrie suddenly cried, and Raiden skidded abruptly on his metal heels, coming to a grinding halt. She had practically yelled in his ear and now she was pointing to the ground in front of him. "Raiden, look..." Harrie murmured, gesturing excitedly, and Sam followed Harrie's gaze, his eyes landing on the little green sprout which Raiden was about to trample over with his one-tonne clawed foot. Eyebrow raised, Sam watched as Raiden let Harrie down and she squatted beside it. "...Wow..." She breathed in amazement.

The cyborg was far from impressed. "It's just a weed, Harrie." Raiden replied, but he elicited no response. The girl was staring inquisitively at the plant; it was merely a few tufts of green leaves poking out of the ground, but she appeared fascinated by it. Glancing around, Raiden then noticed that it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst their surroundings. Amongst the barren wasted landscape, the gray and the brown dusty, chalky roads, was this little green shrubbery. He wondered where it came from and how it even managed to grow considering the deadness of the land.

"Such a pretty color..." He heard her murmur, whilst Sam scrutinized the plant with little interest that rivaled his own.

"Harrie, let's go. We can't stay here." He said. She made a noise of discontent, but Raiden picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck again as he held her. "Comfortable?" He asked, and she nodded a little weakly. "Hungry?"

"No."

"Thirsty."

"Nope. I'm fine, let's just go." She said, and he picked up their pace again, with Harrie throwing glimpses over her shoulder every now and then. "Do you think it'll be okay?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"How can you be so sure?"

A memory flickered into life from the depths of his mind and he thought about Rose. On some occasions, she would do the gardening in their rear garden...As much as she was a messy person, ironically she didn't like having messy gardens. He remembered when she would do the gardening; she hated those pesky weeds with a passion. They just kept growing back no matter how much she snipped or pulled at their roots or threw weed-killer over them. They just coming back with a vengeance. Eventually, she did give up. "They're weeds, Harrie. They grow quickly." He uttered.

"Okay, if you say so..."

A few hours later, it was beginning to get dark and Raiden suddenly felt her drooping over him, her arms leaving his neck. He stopped, turned slightly to her. "Harrie?" There was no response, but her eyes were closed and she was drooling slightly over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes at the sight, "Urh...Harrie..."

"The chica is tired." Sam replied, glancing around the empty path, "We should find a place to rest for the night."

For once, he agreed with their new travel companion and together, they found a small cave up ahead where Raiden lay Harrie down on the cold floor, propping the rucksack underneath her head as a makeshift pillow while draping the thin blanket over her. She was sleeping lightly, eyes closed. Sam sat opposite him, cross-legged and with his katana resting over one shoulder. He too, looked haggard and weary. Raiden almost pitied their current circumstances. The travel was difficult and he had no idea how much longer it would take to find the Resistance.

"Blondie." Sam began, and the cyborg flicked his eyes to him.

"Yeah?" He said, but Sam merely peered at him, inspecting him thoroughly, "What?"

"Nothing. I've just never seen a cyborg so close up before. Especially a human one. The craftsmanship and skill is impeccable. Aperfeiçoado."

Raiden threw his glance to Harrie next, knowing that she was responsible for all his enhancements. "I've still got a long way to go."

Sam grinned. "Yes, you swing your sword like it was a child's toy."

He grunted in response. "...Like I need you to tell me that."

"Blondie?"

"What now?"

"Something has been bothering me. The chica...she asked where I come from. I suppose it has troubled me on some occasions, but I do not dwell on it much," Sam replied; with a sigh, he rubbed at the back of his unkempt dark hair revealing a low ponytail that was beginning to fall out, loose strands of hair trailing over his broad shoulders. Averting his gaze to the mouth of the cave where the sky was darkening, he murmured, "When I woke up, the world was already in this state. And I was unclothed and in a peculiar place."

"Huh?"

"I do not remember my childhood. I do not remember my family. Like the rest of my men, they do not remember either. This peculiar place... when I woke up, I climbed out of a large...this large..." He struggled for words, eyebrows furrowing, "...large _bacia_, and I found and picked up my sword. And then I just left and came here, to Shadow Mountain Lake, where I simply started...living."

The cyborg was steely silent for a few moments. "That's weird." was his comment.

The Brazilian grinned. "You think so too, Blondie?"

"You...really don't remember me? At all?"

Sam squinted his eyes at him. "No. I do not. Your face is not familiar to me." Then, he chuckled, "Well, that's enough about me...Now, about you and the chica. She likes you a lot. It's kinda cute, no?"

He bristled all over. "Harrie and I are close. I made a promise to someone; I'm looking after her from now on." He murmured. It was _true_, he could say they were close to a certain extent.

"I once knew a chica." Sam replied, "She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life."

"Oh yeah? And what happened?"

It was then Sam shuffled slightly and inhaled a short breath as he reminisced. "One winter, it got so cold that we lost five men. I did everything I could, but the days were harsh and unforgiving. One by one, my men dropped dead like flies, just like that. She was...well, her sickness, it did not improve. I stayed with her until the very end; I held her in my arms and I watched the life escape from her eyes."

"I...I'm sorry." Raiden murmured, only for Sam to chuckle weakly under his breath.

"I was kidding." He said; and then his lips spread widely but in the darkness, Raiden couldn't tell if he was smiling or grimacing, "She got caught by those _bastardo_ you slaughtered and after they took their turns raping and beating her, she killed herself."

* * *

><p><em>Harrie opened her eyes, and blinked.<em>

_Raiden was before her._

_Looking left and right, they didn't seem to be outside or anywhere in general. Sam was also nowhere to be seen. "Is this a dream?" She murmured, and when her gaze landed on Raiden's form, her eyes widened at the sight. She reached forwards, her hand landing on his bare, ivory arm. He was soft to touch, his flesh pale and lined with some thin, bluish veins. "Raiden? You're...human."_

_He glanced down at himself before he lifted his head, met her gaze. "Yeah."_

_"But how?"_

_"Does it matter?"_

_She placed her other hand on his chest where she could feel the rhythmic pulse of his beating heart. "So this is what you looked like when you were human..." Leaving her sentence to trail, she looked up and his light, blue-gray eyes locked with her own. "...You're so warm." She muttered._

_"Harrie." He said, his mouth moving. He also seemed to have closed in, stepping closer to her._

_"Your chin." She pointed out with an astonished gasp. No longer was his lower jaw one of cold, hard metal. "This is...this is...I can't believe it...!"_

_He nodded. "I know."_

_Entranced by his intense gaze which seemed to pull her in deeper and deeper, Raiden's face was suddenly close to hers; she swallowed down the apparent lump in her throat, her body trembling slightly as she raked in his form. He was so beautiful. She had always known he was. He was too beautiful to be human, to be a cyborg... to lead the sad, lonely life he had led for the past few decades as outlined in his log. To have witnessed his loved ones pass away whilst he remained without a cause. What a waste. _

_"My parents." She whispered, with her lips millimeters from his, "The day my parents died, they showed me a picture of you. Since then, I knew I had to find you. I looked everywhere and I never gave up. You don't know how important you are to me. __I've been so scared...but now I'm not. Because you're here and it's all because of you. And I trust you and I know you're the one. You're the one, Raiden."_

_"Harrie." He said again._

_"Y-yes?"_

_He took hold of her arms; his grip on her was strong, firm but gentle. Raiden was closing into her faster now, and she didn't know how to react. But wait... he had a wife...he had a child... he was older than her...all that seemed to vanish from her mind when their faces lingered even closer and closer and as their lips met, she closed her eyes, her heart fluttering –_

* * *

><p>Harrie woke up, eyes jerking open.<p>

It was pitch black.

Night-time.

_Just a dream..._

She could see a silhouette opposite her – it was Sam. He appeared to be sleeping, sitting upright and with his katana beside him. He was however, gripping the holster tightly. A rather unsettling habit of his, she assumed, to sleep but to still have a weapon beside him. Raiden was beside her, although he was moaning and grunting something inaudibly under his breath, eyebrows furrowing, arms clinching, fingers scraping into his palms. The _Post Traumatic Stress Disorder_, she thought, as she glanced at him worriedly. She ran her hands over her face, brushing her hair back as she contemplated the vivid dream.

_Am I...am I in love with Raiden?_


	15. Chapter 15

Hi everyone! Another update whoohoo ~~

Thanks for the reviews :) And a big fat THANK YOU to UltraVioletSoul for the playlist. OMG my fic has its own soundtrack LOL! CHECK IT OUT ITS AWESOME!

In answer to ThePredicate's question, Sam said 'bacia' which means basin. Also, Harrie is indeed in her early twenties.

I kinda wrote this quickly. I had too many plot bunnies itching to jump out so usually this happens. Sorry! But I do hope you enjoy anyway :3

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><p><strong>BLADEPUPPY<strong>

Sam dug his hand into the bag and pulled out a can of tinned ham. "Chica, you want this?"

"Ooh, yes, please."

He handed her the can and using Raiden's finger again, she popped off the lid and began to tuck in. Meanwhile, Sam was digging into a piece of beef jerky that seemed to be turning green in some areas.

It was breakfast time and Raiden promptly left the feasting duo to stand at the mouth of the cave, vigilant. He saw no cyborgs or bandits or any other anomaly but he kept a keen look out whilst Sam and Harrie had their food and rest. Despite the early hour, the sky was very gray and dull. There had been no sun for a long time. During the night and he swore he heard the howl of a storm nearby.

"Chica?" Sam started, when he saw the girl gazing rather longingly at the cyborg's back.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to ask your boyfriend if he wants some too?"

She whipped her head to him, blushing. "Boyfriend?! Raiden's not my boyfriend! He...er...he doesn't need to eat... I don't think...?"

"Better go ask him then."

"Um..." She hesitated; she felt uncomfortable in doing so. This would be the first time this had happened. Usually she could talk so freely to him. Now she didn't think she could even look at the cyborg in the artificial eye. "Uh...why don't you, Mr Sam? It would help make you two grow closer."

"Hm." Sam raised a brow, made a noise from the back of the throat and then – "Hey Blondie! You want some food?"

Turning round, Raiden shook his head. "Count me out."

"Okay, suit yourself." Sam replied, before he grinned and downed the rest of the beef jerky. "What's the matter, chica? Why do you look so troubled?"

"It's nothing."

"Is it the timer on your neck?"

"Well, yeah, that too."

"Then let's not waste anymore time. Are you ready?"

She nodded, slurping down the rest of the tinned ham down her throat. "Yeah, let's go."

They approached Raiden, who offered to carry Harrie. This time she shook her head and stalked past him. Sam merely patted him on the shoulder, aimed a rather leery grin at his direction, and followed after her. Confused, Raiden trailed after the two and they returned to the downbeaten path. It seemed to go on forever. Harrie's feet were beginning to hurt. It didn't help that her shoes didn't exactly fit her feet properly and were worn out. Glancing at Sam, she could see him casually sauntering beside them, swinging his sword in the air as though practicing some of his moves.

"Harrie?"

She leapt and turned to the cyborg who had slowed down his pace to match her own. "Y-yes?" She squeaked out, tightening her hand over the strap of her rucksack.

"You okay?" Raiden asked. She'd been acting strangely but he wasn't sure whether he should point it out or not until now.

"Yes, of course I am." came her hasty reply.

"You look tired."

"I'm fine."

"Come on, I'll carry you."

"No, it's okay. I'm fine, Raiden."

"Harrie, stop being so stubborn."

"I said I'm fine, okay?!" She barked. There was a silence following and everyone stopped in their tracks. Sam glanced wordlessly at the duo whilst the girl and the cyborg stared awkwardly at each other. This would also be the first time she had lost her patience with him and snapped at him too. Biting down on her lip, she meekly lowered her head. "Sorry. I...I didn't mean to...you know..."

He crossed his arms, the metal joints creaking, "Harrie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon, clearly there's something bothering you."

"Noooo, there isn't."

With that, Sam sighed. "Ay...I'll leave you two alone for now..." Without waiting for anyone's response, Sam stepped to the side, out of earshot. "When you two sort out whatever it is and kiss and make up, then I shall come back, okay?"

Harrie's cheeks went red immediately but Raiden seemed oblivious. "Harrie. Did something happen?"

"Nothing. Look, the more we waste time, the more we – "

Raiden watched as she stopped in mid-sentence, her knees collapsing. He caught her before she fell, holding her firmly in his arms. "Harrie?!" He shook her and she opened her eyes weakly.

"What...what happened?"

"It must be the chip." He replied, and her eyebrows furrowed as she struggled to open her eyes.

"Nghh..."

Cursing, he propped her onto his back and made her wrap his arms around his neck. They kept falling loose; Harrie was simply unresponsive. At a loss, he had to put her down on the ground before scooping her into his arms, bridal style. Her head lolled against the bend of his arm but she appeared unconscious; even when he shook her again there was no response.

"Sam!" He called for his archrival who came running towards them immediately.

Coming to a stop before him, the Brazilian gestured to the unconscious girl. "What's happened?"

"This happened last time; she was out for ages. It's the chip. Let's go, we can't afford to waste anymore time. Which way to Idaho?"

"Hm." Sam took out their map from their bag and studied it carefully. "North. We should be heading in the right direction."

Without further ado, the two men set out on their long, lonely journey once more...

* * *

><p>"Where are we now?"<p>

"Judging from this sign..." Sam muttered, using his sword to point to a rusted street sign, "This is Salt Lake City."

Three days had passed and Harrie still had not woken up. His concern growing, Raiden kept throwing glimpses to the girl; if he could not see the occasional, gentle rise of her chest every now and then, he thought she was...dead. He had to keep shifting his arms to accommodate to her; he knew this was an uncomfortable arrangement but he could not think of any other way to carry her with them.

He glanced around himself; it seemed they were indeed, in a city. Just like Denver, there was nothing but gray and deadness all around. The majority of the buildings were derelict and in shambles. Most had crumbled to the ground. Evidence of where magnificent edifices once stood were nothing piles of bricks and debris. As they wandered down the highway, they saw lots of cars overturned on their sides or in random areas. The boot of a car was sticking out of a window of a building, at least twenty five feet in the air. A torn and tattered American flag splattered in dried blood was limp against the wall, drooping from its pole.

There were numerous graffiti sprayed on the walls. How old they actually were, he wasn't too sure. Raiden took the time to read them all:

One slogan on a rundown restaurant said: "BEWARE OF CYBORGS."

Another on a pharmacy said: "THE RESISTANCE NEEDS YOU!"

And another on a coffee shop said: "NO FOOD, NO WATER, NO FUTURE."

Another slogan on a locked garage door in an impound lot they passed said: "DO NOT OPEN."

"Shall we open and see?" Sam asked, bursting Raiden out of his thoughts, his eyebrows wiggling mischievously.

"No."

"Oh, come on, Blondie."

"I'm serious, Sam." Raiden muttered, "We should look around and see if we can pick up anymore supplies."

"Alrighty then. Shall we split up?"

"No. We should stick together."

Sam appeared surprised by the remark, but then nodded in agreement. Both men sauntered through the rest of the empty city, glancing around, entering random buildings that were still standing. Most of them had already been raided, however. One particular building caught his interest. Whilst Sam entered a nearby clothes store, Raiden wandered towards the broken glass doors of a brilliant, gray building. The lack of colors present were a dismal sight to the eye. Stepping inside, the sounds of glass crunching under his foot could be heard and he glanced around.

"Look Blondie, I found this for the chica," Sam had returned, with a new trenchcoat coat, sneakers and a bright fluffy pink jumper in hands, "But this color... it's too eyecatching. What do you think?" He was thoroughly ignored. "Blondie? What is it?"

"...This is a lab."

"So?"

"It's one of Maverick's."

"Who?"

"Never mind." Raiden muttered, making his way to another set of doors.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to check it out. Can you stand watch?"

Sam let out a somewhat aggravated sigh and returned to the entrance, folding the sweater and hiding it inside his new coat. "Fine, fine..."

With Sam standing outside on watch duty, Raiden slipped in further into the lab. At least it was still daylight outside or else it would've been harder to navigate. He saw a sign indicating the cybernetics department and strolled down the empty corridor. There were other doors outlining the hall but he didn't want to go inside and have a look as to what may be within. A locked door before him didn't stop him in his efforts and he opened it with one hefty kick. The noise caused Harrie to stir and she opened her eyes groggily.

"...Raiden?"

"Harrie?" He stopped all at once.

She struggled to speak, "How...long...?"

"Three days, I think."

Her eyes bulged. "Oh...no...Are we...?"

"We're in Salt Lake City."

Her expression did not change; he took it that she had no idea where that is. "We're almost there." He reassured.

"What is this place?"

"It's one of Maverick's laboratories." He let her down and she stood wobbly beside him. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "...Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. We should pick up some supplies since we're here."

He nodded in agreement. Together, they wandered further down the corridor until –

"Harrie!"

Before she could even react, Raiden grabbed her and in a quick turn of events, Harrie was out of harm's way and in his arms. Her eyes widened at their arrangement; once again, her heartbeat soared to a rate she thought impossible as Raiden supported her; he had his leg stretched out, his heel catching hold of three scorching blades. Her jaw dropped in disbelief in sight, "W-what was that?!"

"There's something here!" Raiden yelled, just as another set of blades came hurtling towards them from the depths of the dark corridor. Bringing out his HF blade, Raiden shielded the girl and swatted the blades away, causing them to fall uselessly to the ground. "It's gonna take a lot more than that to take me down. Show yourself!"

"Raiden, look out!" Harrie was pointing to something behind him; he turned and before him was a quadruple cyborg leaping towards their direction, jaws out.

Raiden brought his sword forwards and the steel clashed with its jaws. "What the hell?!" The assailant was clinging onto his blade, gnawing tenaciously at the steel before releasing, springing backwards to the floor on all fours. For a moment, Raiden tilted his head to the side, "...Wait a minute...That looks like a lot like..."

"It's a LQ-84i Prototype." Harrie said quickly, although now she appeared more ecstatic than scared, "_Bladewolf_!"

Indeed, it resembled Bladewolf when he first encountered it, although it was significantly smaller in size and rusting in certain areas. How long had it even been here? On its snout, a red light flashed, indicating the four-legged cyborg's speech capabilities. "Correction," The cyborg's gravely voice echoed from its voicebox, "I am an IF-protoype LQ-86i."

"It can talk! And it's so small!" She squealed, much to Raiden's chagrin. He had to step in just as the mini canine cyborg came lunging at her with its razor sharp jaws at the ready. "Eep!"

Batting it away with blade in hand, he turned to her expectantly just as the cyborg slipped into one of the vents, disappearing from sight. "This is a Maverick prototype, right?"

She nodded. "The cyborg's must have taken over its frequency. It looks like it's been here for a long time." She replied, as Raiden held his blade in a defensive stance. Remembering how Bladewolf once ambushed him, he kept his guard up, eyes darting left and right. "I can change it! Just like what I did with - "

Suddenly, she found herself being pushed and as she dropped to the ground, she saw Raiden fighting off the cyborg who had burst out from the ceiling above. "Harrie!" He grunted, struggling with the cyborg, "Forget all that! You need to get outta here!"

Glancing around, Harrie saw the exit before her, but a plate on one of the numerous doors before her said 'Storeroom' and she crawled away and inside whilst Raiden was preoccupied with the dog. Maverick must have left the prototype on guard duty, or at least, that was her hypothesis because she couldn't think of any other reason why a cyborg could be here. Running up to an overturned desk, she took out a small remote which she kept in her pocket, rummaged through all the papers and cupboards and let her eyes wander over the leftover components that were scattered on the floor. She grabbed the pieces she needed, slotting them in and jamming all the wires together and glanced up with a wince as she heard all the noises from battle emitting from outside. The noises were worrying since it sounded like Raiden was taking a beating from the smaller, more agile foe.

"Argh...come on, work!" She yelled angrily, when the wires did nothing. Frustrated, she tried again and when a red light flicked into life at the top of the remote, she beamed. "Got it!" She rushed back outside just in time to see the canine cyborg perched atop Raiden, who was now lying on the floor, repeatedly stabbing him in the chest with its tail-knives. "Bad dog!"

Rotating one of the dials on the remote, the prototype let out an agitated, mechanized howl and promptly leapt off a rather dazed-looking Raiden. Averting its attention to Harrie, she paled as it leapt at her.

She squeezed her eyes shut, turning the dial as far as it could go -

All of a sudden, in mid-air, the cyborg let out another defeated howl and dropped to the ground. The light on its snout had gone out completely. Meanwhile, Raiden lifted himself off the floor using the back of his elbows. With one metal finger, he prodded at the cyborg's limp body before the light switched back on abruptly. Both waited with baited breath as it got up wobbly, shaking itself before looking at Harrie, then at Raiden. It made no apparent hostile move, however. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Harrie glanced at Raiden, who glanced at her with equal apprehension.

"Is it...?"

"I don't know."

Glancing at the dog, Harrie made one move forwards.

"Harrie, no - "

But Harrie took another wary step and to their surprise, the dog did nothing. "Um...Sit...?" Harrie said, stammering slightly.

All at once, the dog squatted down on its haunches and looked at her expectantly.

Her eyes bulged again for the second time. "...It worked." She croaked out, "It worked!"

Leaving the dog squatting on the floor, she rushed over to Raiden, helping him up as he rubbed at his chest. "Now what?" He grunted, "What is it anyway? It's not _Bladewolf_."

"Correction: I am an IF-protoype LQ-86i."

"Yeah, we heard you the first time." Raiden uttered.

"He'll be good for recon." She said, "Isn't that right?" In response, the dog wagged its tail, the knives attached clattering against each other noisily. Whilst Raiden crossed his arms over his chest, Harrie returned and patted the dog on its head affectionately. "I think I'll call you 'Bladepuppy'."

"Correction: I am an IF-protoype LQ-86i." said the dog.

Raiden rolled his eyes.

Harrie squatted down beside it. "Can you say anything else? Aside from telling us your name? What are you doing here?"

"My Master gave me orders to guard the premises until she returned."

"Your Master?"

"Let me guess, is your master Sunny Emmerich?" Raiden said.

"Correct. How did you know?"

"I had my suspicions."

Meanwhile, Harrie stiffened upon hearing that name. "Sunny...Emmerich?"


	16. Chapter 16

Okay, so I want you all to do a little exercise for me for the beginning of this chapter - I want you to picture The Planet of the Apes movie (if you have seen it) - remember at the very end, you see this map of the world where it shows you how the disease spread and began wiping out mankind? Yep, so please picture that for the beginning of this chapter until the next break, and also, think of many voiceovers at once from news, interviews, random people, adverts, etc. Thanks!

PS here is the link to the tracklist the super awesome UltraVioletSoul made, please alter accordingly to check it out!

8tracks.c o m (slash) xraywhisky (slash) heroes-i

PSS This story has now accrued 66 alerts and 49 favs whooo

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><p><strong>THINGS ARE LOOKING SUNNY SIDE UP<strong>

"Cyborgs! Such a scary word. Well, not any longer! Have you wished that you could have your own cyborg at home? Now you can, with our super state-of-the-art cyborg housekeeper who'll do everything you ask it to!"

"I feel that having cyborgs around have actually made life a lot easier. They do everything I say and don't question and overall, they're really great to have around."

"Having cyborgs have made the streets safer. They can patrol all day without stopping, they can detect small clues at crime scenes that might be missed. Heck, they're so efficient we might just have a department full of cyborg police from now on!"

"Shocking news today: a cyborg had to be put down following an unprovoked attack on a small child. The cyborg was a veteran soldier who had his lower body and limbs rebuilt..."

"A study shows that the number of cyborg attacks on humans have risen by 28% over the past year..."

"In response to the increasing number of cyborg attacks on humans, the government has passed a new law in which any purchase, trade or transaction regarding cybernetic components or cyborg bodies is now forbidden. Any persons as such breaking this law will be arrested and taken to stand trial. Current cyborgs are all to report to Homeland Security for check up."

"No more cyborgs! Bring back the humans! I don't want these monsters walking our streets, working in our stores! They're taking our jobs and making our lives a misery! Get them out of the country! They don't belong here!"

"The government has passed a new initiative in which any purchase, trade or transaction regarding cybernetic components or cyborg bodies is now illegal. Any persons breaking this law will hereby be arrested and taken to stand trial."

"Cyborgs are people too! Why are we so antagonistic towards them? We're the ones who created them...I say, leave them alone and they'll leave us alone too."

"Cyborgs are cold-hearted killers who feel no remorse with only one goal in mind – the complete annihilation of the human race. My aim today is to rid the world of this atrocity and anyone conspiring with these creatures will be prosecuted."

"If you see a cyborg on the street, you are to ask to see their identity card. Permission to engage if they become hostile."

"Every cyborg is now to be eradicated on sight, no questions asked!"

"Researchers have conducted a survey on the earth's population and it is speculated that by the year 2080, the population will be as low as 13%. The cyborgs are stronger and they can last longer than humans. I don't even see anyone outside these days! What do we do?"

"You have to protect the children! Do you know what they're doing with them? They're harvesting their brains!"

"I repeat, this is Cain on radio duty today. Are there any survivors out there...? We are the Resistance..."

* * *

><p><em>It was raining heavily outside and she glanced up once she heard the door to her office open. It was none other than Raiden and a familiar canine cyborg who came trudging in. It appeared both had just returned from their mission, with Raiden missing his right arm.<em>

_"Oh! Raiden, you're back." Sunny greeted him cheerfully; she sat at her drawing desk with pencil in hand having been in the middle of designing some aircraft. Slipping off her chair, she bounded over cheerfully to Bladewolf and knelt down in front of him before stroking his head gently. The canine cyborg, having become accustomed to Sunny, wagged his tail lightly in response, "Good boy." She said with a wide grin, chuckling. Rising to stand to face Raiden, she added, "So, how did it go?"_

_"Terrible." He grunted, but this only elicited a giggle from the girl._

_"Aw come on, it couldn't have been that terrible."_

_"We got ambushed. My arm got cut off. He almost got bulldozed. I got stabbed seventeen times. I think that constitutes as 'terrible'." _

_"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that..."_

_"I'll be fine. Doktor will patch me up." Raiden said, before he protruded out a glowing blue sphere from a section near his ribs where he had kept it safe, "...This is what they took from you, right?"_

_"Alright! You did it!" Sunny took the blue sphere off him with a cheer, "Thanks!" _

_Her optimism had no boundaries. He watched as she skipped over to a random cupboard in her workspace, pulling out the drawer to reveal an abundance of similar blue spheres all balanced atop some glass racks. One rack was missing a sphere, which Sunny promptly placed the recovered sphere inside. With a nod to herself, she closed the drawer and locked it, turning to Raiden with a smile._

_"What are those?" He asked, gesturing with a clawed finger._

_Sunny clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head to the side. "They contain DNA. Mine specifically. If they got into the wrong hands, there'll be trouble."_

_"Your DNA?"_

_"Yep." She replied, releasing one hand to scratch at her cheek. "It's for a new project. Dad's working on it too."_

_He gave her a brief nod, "Alright. Well...let me know if you need anything else. I'm turning in for the night."_

_"Okay, goodnight Raiden. Thanks again for all your help! See you tomorrow."_

_"See ya."_

* * *

><p><strong>PRESENT<strong>

Salt Lake City.

Tetsuo had finally arrived; he steered the small airship to the ground within an sealed-off section of the city and stepped out, reaching for his glaive. He checked the navigator that was fixed on his arm; a little blinking red dot indicated where the target was.

Unfolding his glaive, he silently made his way towards their direction.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

"You've heard of Sunny?" Raiden asked, as Harrie stood up with Bladepuppy at her heels.

"She was – " Pausing, Harrie scratched at her chin but then shook her head, "Never mind. I have heard of Sunny, yes."

"What happened to her?"

"Sunny Emmerich lived a full and happy life. She was one of the greatest cyberneticists who ever lived."

_Hmm, so Sunny's left a legacy behind_, Raiden thought, which he did not find surprising at all. Although talking and thinking about Sunny had made him rather despondent...

"Well, looks like we've found as much as we can here. Shall we go?"

He nodded limply. "Yeah."

She didn't seem to have noticed how quiet Raiden had become and averted attention to the dog. "C'mon boy, do you want to come with us?" Harrie cooed, but then her face fell, "Oh no, I forgot, you're waiting for your master to come back, aren't you?"

"Correct." confirmed the small cyborg.

Turning to the cyborg ninja, Harrie pouted and kicked at a stone at the floor, "What should we do, Raiden?" She said, still pouting, "We can't just leave him here. Can we take him with us? Please?"

"I don't see why not."

"Yay!" She cheered, dropping down to kneel beside the dog again, "So, what do you think? Want to come with us?"

The dog tilted its head to her and a few red lights lit up in its skull before they shone brightly into Harrie's face; she had to shield her eyes as he scanned her for a few seconds. "Hey, what the...why are you...?"

"Yes." Bladepuppy suddenly said, and the lights disappeared abruptly, "I shall accompany you, master."

Harrie and Raiden blinked in shock. "He just called you 'master'."

"...I...uh, I...hm, interesting." Harrie said; she decided to merely shrug it off, "But he's decided to come with us, so...that's good. What happened anyway? What happened to this place? Can you tell us?"

The dog said, "Circa 2090. The laboratory came under attack and my master assisted in the evacuation. I was told to keep guard. She has not returned for me. That is all I know."

With that, Harrie looked at Raiden worriedly. She did not need to say anything but he knew that what she was thinking was exactly what he was thinking, too. _I wonder what happened to Sunny. No, not just Sunny. I wonder what happened to Snake and Otacon...I don't know anything. I need to find out..._

However, a loud crash from outside grabbed their attention and all whipped their heads to the source of the noise. "What was that?" Harrie exclaimed.

"Damn, I've left Sam outside."

"What?!" She exclaimed again, and as Raiden sprinted out of the corridor, she followed suit with Bladepuppy trailing after her as quickly as his little legs could carry him.

Once they reached the entrance, he glanced around frantically but saw no sign of Sam. "Where is he?" He breathed out, and as Harrie reached him, he stopped her by holding out his arm, "No, don't come out. It's not safe."

"But – "

She was cut off when suddenly the ceiling caved under and a figure came crashing through - Raiden quickly grabbed Harrie and dived to the right whilst Bladepuppy dodged to the left, leaping away to safety. The figure was none other than Sam, who had landed in a pile of bricks and dust; he coughed and groaned as he tried to sit up, blade in hand.

"Sam?!" Raiden shouted, with Harrie safe in his arms. He'd tackled her to the ground and she was underneath him, with her eyes squeezed shut with fright as his tremendous weight squished the life out of her. "Er...sorry, Harrie..."

"I-It's okay..."

The Brazilian stood up wobbly, dusting himself down although one arm appeared to be bleeding. "_Bastardo!_" He yelled at the newly-created hole in the ceiling, before cartwheeling to the right as another figure followed after him, dropping through the hole - the figure landed, sending the ground trembling beneath them from the impact. As the dust cleared, the figure could now be seen rising, two glowing red eyes settling on their forms.

_Tetsuo_.

"You again." Raiden growled as he moved to stand. "What are you doing here?"

"What! How come he's still alive?" Harrie growled; Sam, grabbing at his bleeding arm, joined their side.

Unfolding the glaive to its true length, the cyborg clad in black armor pointed it at them. "I have come for one purpose." He growled. Pointing at Harrie, he said, "Hand over the human."

The demand surprised them, and Raiden snarled back, "Like hell I'm handing her over."

"_Then die_." Tetsuo growled, and before they knew it, he was already charging at them.

He evaded the assault, grabbing Harrie and leaping away to safely; he let Harrie down to the ground but Tetsuo came at them once more; he shielded her away from the cyborg, grabbed the glaive with his hands. "Sam!" He yelled; as much as he distrusted Sam to a certain extent, he let the Brazilian take Harrie but she stood, frozen.

"No! I can't – "

"_Come on, chica! Your boyfriend will be fine!"_

If only he'd seen how red her face had become. Harrie was dragged out of the laboratory and back into the city by Sam, spluttering.

As Tetsuo attempted to stop them, Raiden pushed the glaive backwards, sending Tetsuo shuffling in mid-step. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" He snarled, drawing out his HF blade from his holster before moving to an offensive stance, "Why are you after her?"

"I do not need to answer your questions." Tetsuo growled in response, retreating his glaive. "We do not have to be enemies, Raiden. You are one of us."

"No way in hell."

Tetsuo merely narrowed his eyes at Raiden's rejection.

They stood opposite each other with their weapons poised. Tetsuo made a move, taking a step to the left. Raiden copied his action, taking a step to the right. They circled slowly, both cyborgs staring each other down with neither willing to make the first move. A few seconds later, however, and Tetsuo came charging towards him again at his inhuman speed, electricity was crackling with each of his step. Raiden anticipated his attack and swung his blade forwards, the glaive clashing with his weapon. Sparks went flying. Tetsuo must've gone through an upgrade and judging by his altered appearance and extensive repairs.

They sprang away, only to clash once more. Again and again, their weapons slammed against each other, causing a great, resonating clash of steel. Both were equally matched. Compared to the last time he faced off this adversary, Raiden was faring better.

"You have learned from our previous encounter." Tetsuo commented, as though reading his mind, "But I still have the upperhand – "

When Tetsuo came at him again, Raiden threw his sword in front of him in a parry – taken off guard by the strength, Raiden went flying backwards, crashing into a nearby wall and out of the lab itself and into the wall of another building nearby. "Nngh!" He grunted, trying to pull his arms free which were lodged fast within the bricks. He glanced up only for Tetsuo to ram his glaive through his gut and Raiden growled, white blood spewing forth from his wounds.

"Weapon and technique will not win the battle. When you lack strength, you cannot hope to defeat me." Tetsuo murmured, before he drove the glaive deeper, the blade grinding viciously. "This is our second battle and you are still weak. I will end your pitiful – " He was interrupted by the forgotten Bladepuppy who launched himself at Tetsuo's arm, biting down ferociously. In response, Tetsuo had to fling his arm back and forth. "Filthy mutt! Get off me!"

With a mighty swing, Tetsuo had batted the puppy away, sending him flying. The cyborg recovered in mid-air and came at him again, throwing knives at his direction with a flick of his tail. Tetsuo countered with his other arm, the knives hit against his armor and fell to the ground. "It will take much more than that to defeat me." Tetsuo growled at the dog as it snarled at him. Deciding to ignore the small cyborg, Tetsuo turned round to concentrate on Raiden.

A small compartment on Bladepuppy's back opened and a little cannon unfolded out, pointing directly at the cyborg's back. Red lights lined his back and when they all became illuminated, a bullet burst forth from the cannon at the speed of light, aimed directly at Tetsuo who had pulled out the glaive from Raiden's body, and as he swayed, Tetsuo lifted his glaive up high, ready to deal the last blow. The bullet connected with Tetsuo and...

...promptly threw him off his feet and high into the air.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_" He could be heard screaming, and Raiden watched as Tetsuo went hurtling, slamming into a building a distance away. The impact caused a massive dust cloud to form, and Raiden turned to the dog, who glanced up at him.

"Good boy." Raiden muttered, "Your master would be proud."

Bladepuppy acknowledged his comment with a nod. "Directive complete."

Together, they returned to the main section of the city where they saw a black aircarrier, the hangar doors open. There was Sam within, waving at him. "Blondie! There you are! Let's go!"

He deduced this was the aircraft belonging to Tetsuo, and he eyed the sleek black ship warily.

"Shall we?" asked Bladepuppy.

"...Yeah." Raiden said, and they boarded without a moment's hesitation, the doors closing behind them.

Raiden glanced around the small cramped space until he saw Harrie at the very front, seated at the pilot's chair. "Hey Raiden!" She greeted him cheerfully, "Isn't this great? I changed the frequency and got rid of the GPS so they won't know what's going on. We can use this to get to the Resistance faster."

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Of course!"

"And you can fly this thing?"

"Sure I can. I recognize the dashboard. Nothing new." She said happily, and soon, she was steering the aircraft off the ground and was beginning to lift it into the air. Switching on the comm, she cleared her throat and said, "Good afternoon, gentlemen and cyborg doggies, this is your captain speaking. We are now preparing for takeoff. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened, it'll be a long journey! Remember, this is a non-smoking flight!"

Raiden gazed at her steadily as she attacked the dashboard eagerly, pressing on all sorts of switches and buttons and as the aircraft whirred to life, a memory flickered in the depths of his mind - he remembered Sunny had once said those words, too. "Will it take that long?" He asked.

"No, I'm just kidding, it'll take maybe like five hours or something." Harrie said, grinning, "I've put in the Resistance co-ordinates so we should find it no problem. Just sit back and relax! Watch some inflight movies or something."

_Relax, huh..._ Raiden thought to himself; as Sam seated himself down in an empty seat to tend to his wound, he turned to Bladepuppy who curled up in one corner, resting his head on his metal paws. Raiden glanced around the small space and decided to sit in the passenger's seat beside her. She glanced at him, and he glanced at her.

"What's wrong?" She said.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep."

"Will you be okay?"

"What do you mean?"

He gestured to the back of his neck.

"Oh, right. The chip. Well, even if anything happens to me, this thing's on autopilot anyway."

"Right." was his meager reply, before he threw his glance down to his lap and uttered, "...Harrie, if it wasn't for you, all of this wouldn't be happening."

She blushed slightly; he could see her cheeks going pink. "O-oh." She muttered, eyes going wide. Fumbling somewhat, she focused on gazing outside the window, "W-well...if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. You know, back at the mountain...the bandits? I...can't remember if I said 'thanks' or not. If I didn't, I'm so sorry, I - "

Again, as she spluttered, he reached out for her. "Harrie, it's alright." He reassured, placing his hand over hers. Immediately, she stiffened from the contact and he retreated abruptly. "Oh. Sorry, uh..."

She swallowed down the lump in her throat. They both simmered into silence, glancing away from each other.

"I'll check up on Sam." He said awkwardly, jabbing a thumb at Sam's direction.

"Yeah, g-good idea." She agreed shakily. She watched him trudge away from the cockpit and towards the Brazilian, before throwing her glance to her hand where he'd just touched. The corner of her lips curled into a fond smile.

* * *

><p>ARGH PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOOOOOOT!<p>

Yeaaah so I had this extreme wave of plot bunnies hopping in my mind all dying to burst forth so I typed this as fast as I can. I couldn't seem to take this chapter seriously and Unfortunately I sacrificed quality so I'm really sorry. I'll go back to edit when I get the chance. I also couldn't remember if Sunny called Hal 'dad'. Thanks for reading anyway!


	17. Chapter 17

Hi everyone. I don't have anything to do today so thought I'd update. Thanks for the reviews, thanks for the continued support and sorry for any mistakes present. I have also corrected the previous chapter mistakes (thanks for pointing out!). Love it or hate it, enjoy anyway!

* * *

><p><strong>HOLD ME, PLEASE?<strong>

When Tetsuo woke up, a few hours had passed and he found that he was stuck deep inside the depths of a building – an office, by the looks of it, where pitiful humans worked day and night, seated and typing away at computers in order to sustain their economy. A dismal way of living but he expected nothing from the weak species.

A beeping noise emitting from his left arm made him groan inwardly. Pushing himself out of the crater he was stuck in, he sat up and flipped open the flap. After a brief hesitation, he said, "...Yes, my lord?"

"_You have failed a second time_."

He let out an inaudible growl. "...My apologies."

"_Return at once_."

"What about the girl?"

"_Leave her. I've activated the kill_. _The human will be no more_."

"But I thought you – "

"_Return at once. Do not ask questions_."

Tetsuo hung his head low, gritting his teeth. "...Yes, my lord."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

They were sitting on the floor of the airship facing opposite each other where she was tending to his wounds from the short battle with Tetsuo; thankfully it was a small wound to the gut and nothing too threatening. "You said the Resistance don't like cyborgs." He said, as Harrie sat cross-legged with a line of tools beside her.

"I'll make them like you. I'll show them just how amazing you are." She muttered absent-mindedly as she tampered with his ribs. It dawned to him that on this occurrence, he was allowing her to tend to him without having a sense of wanting to retreat nor was he overcome with revulsion that usually accompanied any form of human contact that wasn't originating from Rose or any of his close friends and allies.

"And what if they turn you away, just like how they did all those years ago?"

Her face fell abruptly and she sat backwards with a pout and a scalpel in hand, "In that case...I'll ask them really nicely to remove the chip from my neck and then we'll just leave silently with no hassle."

"But I thought..."

"We'll stop the cyborgs. We can do it, whether or not we get the Resistance's help." She replied with a nod of her head, and he had to admit, he admired her persistent faith. Once she was finished patching him up, he rubbed at his chest – he was back to normal - and Harrie sat with Bladepuppy sprawled in her lap. She was now busy scrubbing him with some steel wool she found in one of the overhead cabinets, trying to get the build up of rust off his back. The cyborg didn't seem to mind the treatment at all, his tail wagging around gingerly.

"Harrie, about the chip on your neck," Raiden said, "What does it do exactly?"

She put a finger to her lip. "This is what Mr Sam told me; he said that it drains knowledge."

"Knowledge?"

She nodded. "I guess once they've taken everything from me...that's when they have no more use of me. You know, everytime I conk out and wake up...I do find myself beginning to forget." She admitted, "It's really sore when it happens. Like someone's squeezing my brain with their fist."

_That sounds horribl_e, he thought. "We'll get it off." Raiden said quickly, trying to take her mind off certain things: the chip going down to zero which meant instant death, for a first. "That reminds me - Tetsuo was after you. The motives have changed."

"...Do you think he's gone for good this time?"

He highly doubted it; Bladepuppy bought them time, that was all. "I'll protect you." He muttered and Harrie glanced at him and their eyes met; however, this time, neither averted their gazes away from one another until -

_Beep beep beep._

Blinking, she turned to the source of the noise and Raiden did the same. "What was that?"

"Ooh, I think that's us."

"We're here already?"

"Yep." She got up to stand, Bladepuppy jumping off her lap to shake himself all over; he trailed after her and leapt onto the spare pilot's seat as Harrie strapped herself in. As Harrie busied herself, Raiden went over to Sam and peered at him; the man had been fast asleep during the entire journey, snoring loudly and mumbling some incoherent words every half hour or so.

"Raiden?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come over here for a second?"

"Sure." Raiden carefully made his way over Sam within the confines. The man was still snoring with his mouth open; it appeared that it had been a long time since Sam had the chance to rest so peacefully before considering how vulnerable he looked. On the other hand, Bladepuppy was watching the window keenly, paws flat at the glass.

"What is it?" Raiden asked, once he stood behind her chair.

She did not turn to face him; instead her gaze was focused solely outside. "...Something's not right. There's no-one here."

It was getting dark but Raiden could see what appeared to be a small desolate cluster of buildings up ahead. "What do you mean?"

"It looks abandoned." Now she was gazing intently at the dashboard where the coordinates of the Resistance she had inputted earlier were flashing limply. It said 'Destination – ARRIVED'.

He scrutinized the dashboard intently. "But we're here, right? Maybe they're just hiding incase they think we're cyborgs."

She nodded weakly in response. "Y-yes...it...it could be that." Raiden stood closer to the glass; adjusting his vision, he zoomed in and around but what Harrie said was true – he saw no-one. There was not a human to be seen within; they could be hiding underground, but his sensors also did not remotely pick up anything warm or cold-blooded at all. It was a worrying thought but he made no comment. Turning to Harrie, he noticed that her face seemed to have turned pale. Grabbing hold of the gear stick, she said, "I'm going to land. Sit down."

"Harrie, wait – "

"Sit down."

He sat down abruptly at her commanding tone which rather took him by surprise; Harrie began steering the ship lower and lower closer to the ground, her eyes were transfixed to the emptiness outside of the glass as she steered the ship and finally, there was a gentle but rickety thud and the ship came to a complete stop. Sam was still asleep, oblivious to the landing. She unclipped the seatbelt off her as quickly as she could and sprang out of her seat at once; Bladepuppy and Raiden followed after her, with Raiden grabbing onto the handle of the door before she could reach it.

"I'll go first." He said, before he clamped down on the bar and pushed; the hangar doors opened with a rather deflated hiss and both Raiden and Harrie settled their gazes outside before he took one step off the ship. Glancing left and right, there didn't appear to be a living soul in sight.

Harrie stumbled out of the ship after him and joined his side along with Bladepuppy, who sniffed the air.

Together, they made their way towards the abandoned stronghold. Raiden noted the torn posters stuck on the wall all displaying an interesting array of information regarding missing persons, food ration weekly charts, warnings and curfew times. The posters about missing persons and waning food supplies seemed to dominate the other posters. The stronghold appeared to be merely a cluster of small streets, tight alleys and buildings all in poor shape and in dire need of maintenance. Identical to Salt Lake City, these buildings were extremely derelict only with a few manual additions – broken windows were covered with thick wooden boards and corrugated iron sheets acted as weatherprotectors. A tonne of empty gas canisters and oil drums sat in one corner whilst bullet casings and shells littered the streets. Cars formed a single line at one given point of the street, resembling a barricade although they were riddled with holes.

_It's deserted_, he thought. _Looks like it's been that way for some time..._

"Bladepuppy...can you take a look around to see if there is anyone here?" Harrie asked, temporary bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Yes, master." Bladepuppy hopped onto one wooden crate in a corner and proceeded to enter one of the buildings through a small crack, slipping in silently only to re-emerge a few minutes later. "Negative." He did the same for another building, and another. He re-emerged from them all and Harrie and Raiden watched him steadily for his answer. "Negative. My sensors do not detect any lifeforms within the vicinity. I am sorry."

She was shaking her head the entire time, slowly becoming panicked. "No...no, this can't be..." She was glancing around helplessly; indeed, all that surrounded them was nothing but broken buildings and dusty, disused streets. "No! I don't understand...they're supposed to be here! Where are they?!"

Raiden approached her slowly, "Harrie, calm down."

She turned and quickly made her way down one street; this wasn't like her, Raiden thought, usually she would be so cautious but now it seemed she didn't even care. Venturing deeper through the dilapidated stronghold, Raiden had no choice but to follow her closely. As Bladepuppy had said, there was no-one in sight no matter where she looked and eventually, Harrie came to a stop, attempting to catch her breath.

"No, this can't be..." She was murmuring in disbelief, "This can't – _urgh_!"

He caught her before she collapsed; her knees had given way and he had to lay her on the ground. She was delirious as he held her in his arms, her gaze unfocused and becoming distant. "Harrie!" He shook her and she let out a pained gasp before her eyes landed on his form. "...Harrie?"

Carefully, he tilted her head gently to glance at the chip on her neck and his eyes widened promptly. It was going down rapidly, the red numbers resembling a blur. From days, it had dropped to a number of minutes. It would be zero in no time.

"Harrie, the chip on your neck - "

"What?"

"It's going down faster; I'm going to take it out." He reached for it with the intention to pluck it out – but she stopped him, a hand on his wrist. She struggled out of his embrace and slowly shifted to stand, having to hold onto him for support. He let her stand on her own and she mustered a few weak steps forwards before losing balance.

He gathered her in his arms before she crashed to the ground for a second time and brought her into his embrace; she was very small all of a sudden in his arms, so weak and fragile. Their eyes met and he saw the fear and desolation prevalent. Tears were beginning to form and she bit down on her lip, swallowing down a dry lump in her throat.

"I...I don't understand..." She croaked out bitterly, shifting her gaze to the side.

_Something must have happened to the Resistance_, Raiden thought. _After all, how long had Harrie been separated from them? They could've been attacked...Maybe there is no more Resistance.. _His fist clinching with fury and despair, he attempted to lift himself off the ground only to be stopped by Harrie; she had made a futile grab for him, arm flailing. He caught her hand, feeling the softness and the warmth. "Harrie?"

"They should be here..."

"Harrie, we need to do something about the chip!"

Slowly, she shook her head and he gazed at her steadily, confused. "...It's okay, Raiden."

"What do you mean? We can't stay here. I can't let this happen to you! There must be something I can do - "

She shook her head limply again. "...I'm scared, Raiden. Don't leave me."

"I won't. I'm right here. I'm right here beside you."

Meanwhile, Bladepuppy slowly made his way up to them. "Master?" He said, and Harrie turned to face the dog weakly, patting him affectionately in response.

Beyond his control, Raiden began spluttering, "Harrie, I'll go. I'll find them. I'll find them and they'll save you. They're probably around here somewhere. We'll find them, I promise. You can't give up!" He moved to stand yet again but she merely shook her head. "I can't – _Harrie, I can't let you **die**_!"

She glanced up at him, her breaths slow and shallow. Her shaking hand plopped onto the side of his face, her fingers raking through his hair before she rest her hand over his jaw; this time, Harrie's touch was comforting to him and he clasped his hand over hers, squeezing it firmly. "Hold me," A thick tear proceeded to leak down the side of her cheek, "Please?"

"Harrie..." He wrapped his arms around her and held her as securely as he could; holding her close, he rest his chin atop her head and squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel her weakening heartbeat, every quiet and painful breath. He held her even tighter and he felt the corner of his eye grow wet. "I'm sorry." He uttered, his voice breaking, "I'm sorry."

Raiden clutched her, shaking his head. He held her so close to him that he felt the warmth escape from her body, and when Harrie finally stopped moving, stopped breathing, her hand slowly dropped to the ground. For a split second, disbelief overwhelmed him, but at the realization of what had just happened, the pain and agony was too much. In his grief, Raiden threw his head back and let out a cry of anguish at the loss.


	18. Chapter 18

:( Sorry folks, I know the previous chapter was so sad and made lots of people confused. I'm not going to ruin anything, again just leave things to your speculation so here goes...

* * *

><p><strong>SURVIVOR<strong>

No sooner had Raiden felt the last of Harrie's heartbeat when Bladepuppy suddenly leapt away, growling at an unseen presence behind them. "We are not alone."

He didn't think he had the energy to care anymore. Instead, his gaze was solely focused entirely to the girl who was motionless in his arms.

Bladepuppy remained on high alert, however. "Raiden, I detect – " He was cut off when a hail of bullets slammed into the ground in front of his paws and he evaded by dodging to the right; alarmed, Raiden clutched Harrie and whirled round just in time to see the dark silhouette of a RAY zooming in towards their direction a distance away, whipping up dust and debris in its wake. The RAY did a silent u-turn as it passed them overhead, more bullets bursting forth from two rocket launchers strapped to the front of its legs. He had to shield her body from being hit and a bullet stabbed into his leg. His eyebrows furrowing, he reluctantly abandoned his hold on her once the assault was over to grapple the hilt of his HF blade.

"Raiden?" Bladepuppy said, as the cyborg moved to stand in front of them.

"...I'll deal with this. You protect Harrie."

With a nod, Bladepuppy hurriedly returned to her side.

Facing the RAY alone, Raiden slowly positioned the blade in front of himself, and as the Metal Gear loomed in for a second assault, he charged towards it. As expected, it fired at him, facing him head on; with a twirl of his blade, he deflected all the bullets, sending them flying to different directions. Once the hail of bullets finished, he saw that it was attempting to retreat, turning and flying away. Ready to conduct another u-turn, perhaps. Not on his watch. He felt Jack rising, wanting to take over. He could hear Jack laughing but screaming at the same time, wanting to be let out. After Harrie's death, the loss was crippling and he felt numb. There was no more reason to keep on going. After all, Harrie was the only reason he had been protecting her, traveling with her. To get her to the Resistance. He promised Richmond.

_And now she's gone._

Gritting his teeth, he desperately needed blood on his blade. He needed to find Harrie's killers. Tetsuo. The cyborgs. The capital. Everything. He'd start with this RAY. He was going to slice and dice it into little pieces, he would leave nothing behind. No mercy. Raiden leapt off the ground with his sword at the ready and then –

Its tail came forth and rammed into him.

Raiden was taken aback by the attack – the attack pattern of this RAY was off, unlike other RAYs. To his surprise, a vicious electric current surged through his system once the thick tail connected with his side and abruptly he dropped to the ground.

"Raiden!" Bladepuppy exclaimed, making a move forwards. He was stopped by a net which came shooting forth from the RAY's cannon; he attempted to dodge, but the net followed his movements and wrapped itself around the canine cyborg. With a yelp, Bladepuppy rolled to the ground, struggling to break free. The net appeared to be made out of wire, with electric currents surging through in an eerie blue light. Immobilized, he saw Bladepuppy convulsing uncontrollably whilst trying to gnaw himself free, the red light on his snout flashing on and off wildly.

He tried to get up but to no avail. "What...?!" He managed to grunt out. The electric current was jumbling with his insides, frying his circuits. His head was dizzy, his vision scrambled, his AR display flicked onto life, bathing the world in a dark blue glow with the RAY outlined in yellow. He thought he saw two or three figures within the Metal Gear. A second later and the vision faded like white noise on a television screen and then some recorded codecs popped into view. The words 'ERROR' suddenly began blaring in front of him in red. Amidst the chaos, his hand lost control of the blade, his fingers shaking and unfurling in jerky movements. Wait a minute. This happened before, back at Shadow Mountain Lake. He had been tasered, exactly in this manner. It was not the result of cyborgs, but –

Raiden looked up, when the RAY landed and then a compartment at the back opened up with a hiss and then he saw them:

A group of humans flung down some rope, scaling down one leg of the RAY.

His eyes widened.

Two or three humans surrounded and pointed their guns at him. He saw one human rush past, completely uninterested in the cyborg ninja convulsing and quivering violently on the ground. It was a young man with blond hair dressed in camouflage wear with a cap and black mask over his lower half of his face. He was carrying a rifle in hand, a shotgun strapped to his back, some handguns swinging from his belt. From Raiden's fuzzy hearing, he heard the thud of heavy duty boots thumping past him before the man squatted down Harrie's body.

"She's still warm!" The young man yelled, his voice muffled behind the mask, "What do we do with the cyborg?"

Next, he heard another man's voice, the voice was belonging to an older gentleman, gruff but kind: "He's comin' with us, along with the dog. Check the ship too to see if there's anyone else." A shadow approached him and he struggled to see but he could make out the faint outline of a tall, bulky figure.

"Are you crazy?!" exclaimed the younger, blond man.

"I ain't crazy, Sasaki." barked the older man, who moved to squat down beside Raiden, "Ivy, get the hell over here! It's another one of them kill chip! If you dally any longer, we're gonna be bringing a dead body aboard!"

Now he heard a woman's voice: "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

A face looked at him directly; it was a woman with long black hair, also dressed in camouflage garb. However, before he blacked out, he thought he saw Rose.

...

Raiden opened his eyes to find himself in a strange place; he realized that it was Harrie's base, back in Denver.

"Where am I?" He murmured; throwing his glance down, he saw that he was human, his hands were of flesh, his fingernails hard and tough. "...The data bank?"

"That's right."

He glanced up at the sound of the familiar voice and immediately, his eyes widened. "Harrie!" He exclaimed; automatically, he could feel himself grinning at the sight of the girl who was suddenly standing before him. There she was, dirt-free and dressed in clean clothes, her hair long and silky. Healthy, glowing. Most important, alive. Ecstatic by her appearance, he said, "What are you doing here?"

She looked left and right, up and above, then finally her wandering gaze settled onto him. "I don't know, but I do believe that the interaction that you had with this person has now been recognized by the AI and has replaced the original. It has now assumed another physical form and recreated an exact likeness... the AI has changed, adapting to your needs and..." She left her sentence to trail somewhat, "...It appears that the person whom you want to see the most now is the one you know as 'Harrie'."

The answer stunned him for a brief moment. "...What about Rose?"

"I'm...not sure. She doesn't seem to be here anymore." said the AI that looked like Harrie, "I'm sorry. I can go away if you want."

"No, don't go. I didn't mean it that way. Sorry." He said quickly; he made his way up to her and stopped before her. Harrie blinked up at him curiously before her lips spread into a smile. "I'm glad I got to see you again, even if it's in here."

"Me too, Raiden."

"Jack." He muttered, his gaze softening, "Call me 'Jack'."

She gazed at him for longer than intended. "Jack...?"

"I'm sorry, Harrie."

"For what?"

"I failed. As usual."

"You haven't failed." She said. Placing her hands on her hips, she emitted a sigh as she gave him a lop-sided look, "It's okay."

"I couldn't protect you. I can't."

"You got me to the Resistance."

"But...they weren't there. And those people I saw - "

"...The Resistance?"

His fist curled, nails digging deeply into his palm. "...Goddamnit!" Turning from her, he punched at the wall beside him. Data bank or not, the wall crumbled under his fist and it hurt.

"Calm down!"

He could not face her. Instead, he kept his head low, his curled fist stuck in the wall, "...I'm sorry, Harrie."

"Alright, alright, enough already," She said (the AI was really spot-on, this was something Harrie would say to him), "Resistance or not, it doesn't matter. The most important thing was that I was with you. The way things were between us...I was happy. It was enough. I didn't need anything else. All I knew was that I had you, and that you were there for me."

Raiden slowly shifted his gaze to her; was this... a confession? From an AI? Wait, the AI was acting according to, and based on, his interactions with Harrie. It was merely a mirror, a reflection...Did that mean this was what he had felt from her when she was alive...All in all, why would the AI be saying these things to him? Uncertainty bit at him from all four corners, but he was assured that she had said such words to him...but why would he be feeling this way anyway? What about Rose? His son? Harrie was...she was...

"I'm sorry." She said, sensing his discomfort as his expression bunched up somewhat, "I've said something completely inappropriate. I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable."

He shook his head firmly and pulled his fist from the wall, facing her, "No, it's alright. I feel the same way. I wanted something better for you. It's not fair for you, to be raised in a world like this. This is...the absolute worst. The world was so different all those years ago. You deserve better."

"I appreciate everything you've said, Jack. I wish I lived in your world, too. I wish I could've met you in a different way. Not like this." She said, and she turned from him, retreating to wherever hence she had come from.

"Harrie, where are you going?"

She glanced at him from over her shoulder. "...Isn't it about time you woke up?"

"I don't want to." He replied, "I'd rather stay here forever, where I can see you."

And Harrie smiled, shaking her head sadly. "You know that's not possible; you have a greater purpose, Jack. Staying here and talking to an artificial program based on the likeness of someone you once knew and cared for...that isn't it."

As she stepped towards the light, he found himself panicking and - god knows why - but he jerked his hand forwards. He remembered the first time this happened when Rose disappeared. No amount of yelling or crying brought her back until the second time he was forced into involuntary unconsciousness. However, to his surprise, this time his hand landed on her form - he caught her by the shoulder - and he spun her around. The AI blinked, astonished and bewildered, as he proceeded to wrap his arms around her. At first, he too was surprised by his own actions. Harrie stood limply in his embrace and Raiden simply went still. Despite everything happening in his unconsciousness, it all felt real. Too real. From the strands of her hair tickling his face to the warmth of her body.

His arms would not let go of her. "Sorry." He uttered, at his uncalled reaction. "...Your final words were...'Hold me'."

"...I know," whispered Harrie, before she returned his embrace, "Thank you."

* * *

><p>He jerked awake to an incredibly excruciating pain, yelling in agony.<p>

His vision returning, he saw three blurry outlines in front of him before they merged into one – a stern-faced man in a black tank top and dark khaki pants with a dogtag hanging around his neck. He recognized the man to be the older gentleman who had found him and Harrie - now that he had a good, proper view of this man - he was intimidating with those thick arms that bulged with sturdy muscles, covered in sprawling tattoos. He also had a headband tied around his forehead in a fashion that reminded him of Snake, revealing short scruffy brown hair.

Despite the intimidating look, the muscles and the stubble and the tattoos, the man said, "Rise and shine, son."

He continued yelling, the pain not subsiding. Raising his head, his vision still unfocused and blurry, he wearily glanced around himself; he was missing his arms and legs...perhaps that was the source of the pain...he was also being held up by ropes tied around his neck and waist with the ends fixed to two pillars on his left and right. White blood was leaking from his wounds in little drips. He was in a dark room with a dim lightbulb attached from the ceiling. An interrogation room? He stopped yelling, breathing heavily, "...What...have you done to me?"

"Some precautions have to be made. You can't blame us." said the buff man, nodding to himself.

"Who are you?"

The burly man turned to him and looked at him squarely in the eye. "Name's Cain."

"...Are you...the Resistance?" He said, in disbelief.

"The one and only, though we prefer the name 'Philanthropy' to be precise."

This only caused him to grit his teeth in fury. "Where the hell were you?!" He roared. Even though he didn't have his arms, he could feel his fingers clinching with rage. "She was looking all over you! We made our way to Idaho and there was no-one there! You came after she...she...!"

"We had to move." Cain replied curtly, "But luckily our scavenger RAY found you."

Panting, Raiden let his vision adjust before settling his gaze on the man before him. In return, the man named Cain stared at him in steely silence. Letting out a grunt, he spat out some blood and he hung his head low, coughing.

"Cheer up, son, it ain't all that bad."

He remained silent.

"Ah, I see, it's because of Harrie." said the buff man, "That's right. I know her and I know who you are. I know your name. I remember her saying something like a cyborg that helped humans. You're him. You're that cyborg she was looking for. I'm just surprised it took her that long. Tell me something: did you care for her?"

As expected, Raiden said nothing.

Cain started to laugh, however. "Even if you did, it's not possible. You're made out of metal. You're a tinman. You have no _heart_. You have no flesh, no bones. You're not _human_." Reaching forwards, the man rapped loudly over his chest, his knuckles causing a hollow 'thunk' noise with each rough movement.

"...Leave me alone."

"Hoho, look at you, I didn't know tinmen could have _feelings_."

"...Harrie..." He croaked out, rather deliriously. He kept his head down, his gaze landing on the dirty floor beneath him. "Harrie..."

"Hm? What was that? You have to speak louder, son."

At Raiden's silence, the man tilted his head to the side, glanced to the side and then –

He suddenly rammed a switchblade through his throat, twisting the blade deep within the recess of his voicebox. Raiden let out a guttural cry although it came out strangled and distorted, his eyebrows knitting furiously as the man leveled eyes with him. "I said _speak louder_."

White blood spurt forth, dribbling down his metal chin. "..._Nngghh_..."

Cain left the blade in his throat and Raiden was left coughing with the hilt sticking out. "A normal human would've died from an assault like that." He murmured; turning round to face him, he said, "But you...all you feel is a little tingle of pain, minor discomfort. It looks painful, it looks disturbing, but in the end...you are still alive. Just like us, Raiden, you are a _survivor_!"

Raiden watched him warily.

"You must have a lot of questions for me. I give you permission to ask."

Again, he remained silent.

"Go on, ask me anything."

"Don't care."

"Now that ain't true. Don't you wanna know what happened to your little friends? That scruffy man you were with? The dog? _Harrie?_ No?"

"...The chip." He grunted out, "...I couldn't stop it."

Cain chuckled. "Haha, yeah, I know. It's a nasty little fucker. Designed to tamper with the brain and steal information from the nerves, then it gets fed back to the cyborgs. It's a shame it got stuck on Harrie. No doubt they'd taken priceless information off her. We need to get it back." He said, before he crossed his arms over his chest, "You know, Raiden, I gotta hand it to you. You were a man born not of this era but you've adapted well."

"Spare the compliment."

"Let me tell you something. We know where the cyborgs are and now we are readying for a full-on assault. The question is: will you help us, since you helped Harrie?"

"...I thought you hated cyborgs."

"Things have changed."

There was a silence.

Finally, the cyborg looked up, meeting the man's eye.

Cain waited.

Raiden grunted and spat out some more blood, then -

"...When Harrie was six years old, she came to you with a cyborg called Edgar Richmond. You turned her away because of that. For years she lived by herself with Edgar as her guardian in the wilderness...and now you're asking **me **to help _you_?"

Cain looked slightly uncomfortable at his remark. "I was there when it happened. I have no excuse for what happened that day." He muttered.

He continued, "I brought Harrie to find you when it was no longer safe for her to live out in Denver...she was so sure of where you were but you disappointed her once more. So let me tell _you_ something, Cain. When Harrie died, a part of me died too." He snarled, "So no. I won't help. You can fight your goddamn war on your own. Even if it means the end of the world and the cyborgs kill every single last one of you, that's fine with me. I don't care. You don't deserve my help."


	19. Chapter 19

Whoooo, this story reached 100 reviews yay! woot and I got another exciting update for y'all; thanks for the continued support and reviews. Again, love it or hate it, enjoy ~~

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><p><strong>NANOMACHINES, SON<strong>

Cain stared at Raiden for a long time following his answer. And then, his lips lifted into a smile. A chuckle escaped his lips. It soon grew, louder and louder, until he was throwing his head back with laughter. Shaking his head, eyes curling with glee, he slapped his knee, doubling over.

"What's so funny?" Raiden growled.

Attempting to catch his breath, Cain wiped the sweat off his brow and looked at him squarely in the eye. "Ah, young love. Can't live without the other, is that right? You two are even worse than a pair of lovebirds. Just look at you... losing the will to live after the other one goes," He muttered under his breath, "Son, I think I need to show ya somethin'. Perhaps this will change your mind..."

Cain reached forwards, pulling out the switchblade and untying the thick knot around his waist and neck. Raiden watched silently as Cain propped him up and carried his limbless torso to a moldy gurney covered in dried blood that was standing in one corner of the room which he hadn't noticed before due to the poor lighting. Cain didn't seem affected by Raiden's weight either and was whistling the entire time as he dropped him over the gurney's surface and grabbed the handles. As he wheeled him out, Raiden glanced up and around the dank corridor they were in.

"Where are you taking me?" He demanded, rolling around on the gurney slightly to face Cain better.

The man glanced down at him and smiled; just like way he saw Sam smiling at one point, there was something seemingly sinister behind the action. "You'll see." Cain murmured. He finally stopped by a lone metal door at the end of the corridor. With his fist, Cain rapped loudly and then a slot on the door slid open, revealing a pair of blue eyes.

"Boss?"

"I got a visitor." Cain said, "He needs to see."

"Alright." The man behind the door stepped away and closed the sliding panel of the door. The knob rolled and then the door opened, revealing the blond haired man Raiden recognized earlier from the stronghold.

"Thank you, Sasaki."

_Sasaki?_ Raiden thought. Throwing a quick glimpse at the blond-haired man, he tried to get a better look. The blond was young, maybe in his mid-twenties, and he was tall and lean but slightly muscular. He had blue eyes that were covered by his messy hair. He was carrying two rifles over his shoulder but this time the handguns were missing from his belt. Just like Cain, he too had a dogtag around his neck and a few sprawling tattoos running down one arm.

"Hey there, tinman. How's it going?" said Sasaki, grinning at Raiden.

Suddenly, there was a low growling noise and Cain turned to the blond whose ears seemed to have turned red with embarrassment. "Your IBS acting again, son?"

"...U-uh...yeah..." Sasaki replied, wincing as he clutched his lower tummy with one gloved hand.

"Didn't I tell you to stop drinking them contaminated water?"

Sasaki's bottom lip wobbled slightly, his complexion going pale and ashy in the face all of a sudden as persistent growling, grumbling noises emitted from his stomach. "I-I can't help it...no-one can..."

"Good thing I came along then." Cain said, before he patted him heftily on the back and urged the blond towards the door. "I can keep watch for now. When you're feeling better, can you bring me his arms and legs?"

"Sure thing, boss." Sasaki said; he did a quick salute before dashing out of the door, limping somewhat whilst groaning, "OooooOOohhh, my stomachhhh..."

_I knew it..._ Raiden thought to himself as Sasaki's retreating footsteps could be heard thundering down the dank hall whilst Cain sighed inwardly.

"He's a good kid, it's just too bad about the IBS an' all." Cain muttered, throwing a glimpse to the cyborg.

"What did you want to show me?" He asked, as Cain carried him off the trolley and onto the floor where he was propped up to sit against the wall.

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

The cyborg glanced over to where Cain was gesturing to; his gaze settled on a girl who was sitting with her back to him, knees to her chest. She appeared to be rocking herself back and forth as she sat. Raiden's eyes widened and he spluttered out, "Harrie?!"

He could not be mistaken. It was Harrie. It _had_ to be Harrie. However, she paid no attention to him.

"_Harrie!_" Raiden exclaimed as he attempted to move himself, inching slightly off the wall but this only caused him to roll towards her. Once he neared her, she let out an agitated shriek and scrambled away from him and he saw that she was wrapped up in a straitjacket, a thick white elastic material binding her arms together. Raiden grumbled somewhat as he went rolling, coming to a stop with his face flat against the cold ground. To his surprise, Cain was at his side and hoisting him upright. Raiden croaked out, "Harrie, she's – "

"Alive, yep."

"But - "

"She's alive, son."

"How?"

"We got to her quick enough, that's all I can say."

Raiden was perplexed. He just could not comprehend it. He held her as she died in his arms. He heard her last breath, he heard her heart come to a stop. Her death was real. It happened. Was he delusional again? Was he hallucinating? No, he could not be. Harrie was alive. _She was alive_. He wanted to ask how she was still alive. He wanted to ask what had happened, and what happened to Sam and Bladepuppy also, but his mind was frantic, buzzing with questions. There were too many questions, too little answers. He despised the feeling of not knowing. Turning to her again, he said, "Harrie, it's me."

This only caused her to curl into a ball, huddling in the corner.

His eyebrows knitted in confusion, "Harrie, what's wrong? What's happened? Why is she like this?"

"Her mind." Cain murmured, as he knelt beside Raiden, "It's gone."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you." Cain said, and he approached her slowly, staying low to the ground; as he neared, Harrie turned and watched him blankly but curiously, he squatted down beside her on one knee. "...Harrie. You're okay now. It's me." And Raiden watched as she stared limply at him with a strange emptiness in her eyes before she turned her head away and began to mutter something incoherently under her breath. Cain added, "Harrie. You remember Raiden, don't you?"

He gestured to the cyborg; Harrie did not look, instead she began driving her head against the corner of the wall, rubbing her face against the brick over and over again, getting her hair tangled and all over her face in process.

"Harrie." Cain tried again, trying to get her to stop what she was doing, "I've brought Raiden to see you."

Again, no response.

"It's Raiden, Harrie. _Raiden_."

When Cain repeated the name louder, she went still, her jaw hanging half-open.

"Raiden's here. He's over there. Look." Cain gestured to him once more; Raiden stiffened slightly when Harrie slowly, ever so slowly, shifted her orbless gaze to his direction. "It's _Raiden_."

However, it was back to the shaking and the rocking and Harrie whimpering to herself louder, muttering gibberish. "...Sky." She uttered, a little frantically, "...La...La li lu...le lo. Boom. Chop chop...Ken..._Ken_."

As Harrie continued her nonsensical rambling, Cain sighed and shook his head. "Those are the words she keeps saying, nothing else. I hope they mean something to you."

Raiden gritted his teeth furiously at the display; even though he was already missing his limbs, he felt himself mentally being torn apart. "_How could this happen?_"

"We operated on Harrie when we were in the RAY. We had to kickstart her heart again. Nanomachines, son."

He froze all over. "_What?_ Nanomachines? You injected _nanomachines_ into her?"

"Ivy had to do what she did – "

"Ivy?"

"Our doctor. She's saved other people who had the same chip stuck on them using them nanomachines, you know. Harrie wasn't the only one, but she was one of the luckier ones. Ivy's really good; she'll probably come check up on Harrie soon." Cain muttered, "Anyway, after we revived her and when she woke up, she was already like this. She doesn't recognize us; she doesn't remember who she is. She doesn't remember anything. I'm sorry."

"The chip?"

"After it takes all the information from the victim, it leaves them in this mental state. Most don't live to become the way they are now because the chip would've gone down to zero - "

"You saved her."

The room fell silent for a while between the two, with Harrie chanting deliriously and quietly under her breath, her eyes darting to and fro before she began crawling to the other side of the room, away from the men. Cain turned to the cyborg and nodded again briefly. "...Yes. Yes, we did."

* * *

><p>Raiden was left alone with Harrie.<p>

Cain had left them to allow them some time together after issuing an apology for the 'precautions' that had to be made. He had also returned Raiden's severed arms and legs and left them in a pile in the corner of the room; someone would come and fix him - one of their mechanics. Raiden didn't want anyone working on him except from Harrie. She knew what to do. Realizing Harrie being the one to fix him was not going to happen anytime soon, or possibly _ever_, made him depressed.

"Harrie?" He murmured, "...You don't remember me at all?"

She paid no attention to him.

He threw his glance down morosely. "I saw you." He muttered, "You were in the data bank with me. I didn't want to wake up, and I certainly don't want to wake up only to see you like this...but you don't know how happy I am to see that you're alive. I'm sorry, Harrie. I'm sorry I keep letting bad things happen to you. You were dying in my arms and I couldn't do anything to stop it."

"La li lu le lo." She replied.

He'd heard that before. "...The Patriots?" He uttered, and finally, she looked at him.

"La li lu le lo." She said quickly, rocking back and forth on her seat on the ground, knees pressed to her chest, "La li lu le lo." Cain had removed the straitjacket when he deemed it safe to do so and now she was free to do as she pleased. However, all she seemed capable of or was remotely interested in, was sitting limply on the spot and mumbling to herself.

"What about the Patriots, Harrie?"

She pointed meekly to the ceiling. "Sky."

"The sky?"

"Sky. La li lu le lo. Boom...chop chop. Ken."

"The Patriots," He began, although inwardly he wondered what '_chop chop_' meant, "The sky? You... saw the Patriots? ...In the sky?"

She looked at the ceiling, particularly at the dim lightbulb with her hands out, entranced with the blinding light. Breathing heavily, she swallowed down, blinking numbly before she shakily stretched her arm out towards the light as though trying to reach for it, her fingers grasping at thin air. She said, "Ken."

He knew that 'Ken' was her nickname for him a while ago. "Me? You're talking about me, right? You saw... me?"

"Ken."

"When was this, Harrie?" He asked, and she sat down wordlessly, her vacant eyes landing on his form. _I guess she doesn't know or she doesn't remember._

"Mark two."

"What?"

"Mark two." Glancing at the gaping holes in his body where his arms and legs should be, she muttered, "Ken. Mark two. Ken."

"Harrie, wait." Raiden tried, "What does that mean? What's mark two?" But she crawled to one of his arms on the floor and picked it up, staring at his clawed fingers before slowly pressing her own palm flat against the palm of the metal limb, her fingers were tiny compared to his; she stared at it hard as she proceeded to lay it down on her lap. He watched as she crawled towards him again and sat up in front of him, holding his arm out. Now she tried to slot his arm into one of his legs with much effort. "Harrie, no – "

When she realized it wasn't fitting in, she tried one last time before glancing numbly at his arm slots. "That's right, Harrie." He said, as she tried to slot his arm back in but to no avail. Simply reinserting the arm would not work; he gazed at the frayed wires sticking out from his missing limb. Suddenly, she went still after a few minutes; Harrie gazed at his arm slot for a long time before she went slump, defeated. Staring emptily into space, she let out a rather distressed wail, dropped the limb and clamped her hands over her head as it clattered loudly over the ground; she proceeded to curl into a fetal position, rolling onto her side away from him. He saw her shuddering with each deep, profound sob. Raiden watched her helplessly as she cried.

* * *

><p>Cain was watching the scene unfold through the black and white surveillance cameras fitted in the room. There was Harrie, lying on the floor in a pile whilst Raiden sat limbless against the wall. Beside him, Sasaki was sitting on a dilapidated swivel chair, spinning around and around in half-circles whilst playing absent-mindedly with a blade in hand; he came to a stop, however, sitting up properly in the chair with his eyes wide.<p>

"She just said something new." Sasaki said, pointing at the screen before glancing at the burly man in shock, "Mark two."

"Yeah, I heard." Cain grunted in response.

"Do you think she knows?"

"Possibly. However, at this rate I don't think she even realizes what she's talking about."

"Should we do something?"

"We should wait until she regains her memories."

"What if it makes things worse? What if _Jack the Ripper_ comes leaping out? What then?"

With that, Cain mustered a sigh and turned away from the flashing screen with his arms crossed. "Then at least we know that deep down he's still human."

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><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

Tetsuo was dreaming.

He was dreaming about something that happened a long time ago. He was in a bright room and there was a woman before him, smiling warmly; he could not make out her face or her name. He simply knew that she was there but when he woke up, he found that he was alone and locked in a dark and dank cell, chained and shackled and left to think about his mistakes and how he had failed in his duties.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong>

I thought I'd add a note this time. Hmm, not much of a heartwarming reunion eh? I think this is the only fic I've written so far where an OC gets killed but the story still managed to progress after that as evidenced from the previous chapter. I'd like to say that Harrie's death was planned because its putting Raiden x OC back into motion with Harrie replacing Rose as the AI and also Raiden's realization as to how important she is to him, and also how devastating it is for him to witness what she has become now. But I also knew I was going to bring Harrie back to life because The Resistance, specifically the character called 'Ivy' who was mentioned by Harrie back like Chapter 7 or something, has treated other individuals with the chip before and brought them back to life using nanomachines; Harrie is one of the luckier ones as mentioned. Either way, you can accept this or think I'm nuts and should've left Harrie killed off. Despite all that this is seriously one of my most saddest stories as of yet :'(


	20. Chapter 20

**TIME**

_2078_

"...Jack, is that you?"

He stiffened immediately and slowly shifted out from his hiding spot, glancing over. She was looking at him from the bed, smiling, a photo album propped up in her lap.

"Jack, you've come to see me." She said, "I knew you would."

"...H-hello, Rose."

"It's...been a long time."

"Y-yeah."

"Have a seat."

He glanced at the stool beside her bed and seated himself down although the metal immediately waned slightly under his weight and he knew he'd have to stand back up after a few minutes or so or else risk flattening the stool to a pancake. Furthermore, despite his civilian suit, all eyes in the room were on him.

"I brought you a gift." He uttered, groping his pockets to find a small box wrapped up in rose pink paper and a white ribbon tied around it. "...I hope you like it."

"Thank you." She accepted the box without hesitation, but did not open, deciding to place it gingerly by her side. Smiling at him, she said, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm glad." She uttered. It went silent until she sighed. "...Jack..."

"I'm sorry, Rose, I – "

"Jack, thank you." She slowly reached for him, her wrinkly hand landing atop his own. "I'm glad I got to see you...even if this is for...the last time."

* * *

><p><strong>PRESENT<strong>

Raiden opened his eyes groggily to see Harrie repeatedly slamming her head against the wall. "Harrie!" He exclaimed, rising to stand. Immediately, he was at her side and sliding his palm between the wall and the back of her head to cushion the impact. Once he did so, she swerved her blank eyes to him but continued her action, slamming her head against his hand this time.

The mechanics of the Resistance had fixed him for his sake, although the handiwork wasn't as good as Harrie's. He still felt incomplete and not quite himself. Getting Harrie to stop her actions was tricky; she didn't seem to be listening to him and she wailed and thrashed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Harrie, stop doing that." He said, only for her to continue her thrashing.

The blond called Sasaki dropped by earlier with food but it seemed she hadn't touched it or was capable of feeding herself. He inwardly pondered how he would do this but he knew Harrie would need to eat soon and it didn't appear as if Sasaki or Cain would be returning to accomplish the task. It was up to him; therefore he grabbed the bowl - which seemed to contain a foul-looking brown, drippy gunk - and took the dirty spoon supplied. _This **is** soup, right?_ He thought. He wasn't quite sure whether this was edible but it was better than nothing, and he didn't recall Harrie having anything to eat for a long time, "Come on, Harrie, I'll feed you."

Again, she wailed and shook her head as he neared her with the spoon, avoiding him as he loomed closer and closer.

"_Come on_, Harrie. You need to eat."

Getting her to eat was certainly a difficult task; everytime he inched closer and she would avoid him like the plague, ducking from side to side. Finally, he managed to jam the spoon into her mouth after tricking her to duck to the left and she blinked vacantly into space with the spoon handle sticking out of her mouth. Raiden watched her tentatively for her reaction and then she started munching, closing her eyes. He grabbed the spoon and pulled it out; again, it was another effort since she seemed to have clamped down on it with her teeth. At least she had eaten.

"Good." He said, and she smiled at him again, rocking herself back and forth. He dunked the spoon into the brown mixture again and held it out for her. Harrie stared at the spoon emptily for a second before inching closer with her mouth open. He slipped the spoon's contents into her awaiting mouth and she swallowed although by the time he actually managed to get some soup into her, half of it had spilled over their laps.

There was no intelligible response from Harrie but he kept feeding her the soup anyway, and when she was finished, he put down the bowl and spoon but Harrie made a grab for it. "Harrie." He had to shove the bowl from her reach before she could get to it and she wailed again. A small crusty loaf of bread was the next item on the menu so he broke off a chunk and as though aware of his actions now, she would automatically open her mouth and he would pop the little pieces of bread into her mouth for her.

_It's like feeding a baby_, he thought to himself. This time, when he broke a piece of the bread, she took it and thrust it into his face. "Harrie, it's okay, you know I don't have to eat."

"Hmphhh." Sensing his rejection, she made a rather disgruntled noise and smushed the bread against his jaw firmly.

"Okay, okay, don't get mad. I'll eat it. See?" He opened his mouth and she happily shoved the bread down his throat. He coughed somewhat at her forcefulness which only made her laugh, "Harrie – "

She was now breaking off tiny bits and bobs of the bread and shoving them into his mouth. This continued until the bread was finished. Upon realization, she looked at him sadly. He couldn't help but allow himself to grin. Once the rest of the food was finished, he began to tidy up, letting Harrie roll around the floor and when he was done, he put the tray near the door to be collected then turned to her. She was oblivious to his presence, engrossed with staring at a crack in the wall. Exhausted, Raiden sat himself down opposite her.

Harrie stopped staring at the crack and turned to him.

He glanced up, meeting her gaze. She said nothing but she crawled over to his side and sat up, imitating the way he was sitting. He ran a hand over the back of his neck and she did the same, then he threw his gaze to the ground and she did, too. "...I never told you this, but I left my family." He uttered softly, "Little John had just turned eighteen."

Emitting a sigh, he closed his eyes and looked up at the dimly lit bulb hanging off the ceiling.

"Before Rose passed away, I went to see her one last time. She was in the hospital and I waited until her family left. I had seen her children and grandchildren and knew that she had lived a fulfilled and happy life. A life that could not have been if I was in it. Leaving her was the best thing I could ever have done for her. I was a dark chapter, a thorn in the side."

Harrie said nothing, except grab at her exposed bare toes, wiggling them around.

With a sigh, he brushed his hand through his hair. Why was he suddenly saying all this? Why was he spilling his heart's content to her? She probably wasn't even aware of what he was saying nonetheless. Perhaps that was why he was comfortable saying all this all of a sudden. His knuckles clenched, his hand shaking as he forced himself to continue, "And after Rose passed away, I asked to be deactivated. I had left them and spent more than fifty years on the case of World Marshal and destroying everything to do with them. I was alone and I fought alone until I had annihilated every last shred of them. I completed my mission. But at the end...I was alone." He murmured, "I was tired, and I no longer wanted to fight."

...

"They've been silent for some time." Cain muttered, "Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Sasaki, open up."

"Yes, boss."

Sasaki proceeded to open the door and Cain stepped inside with the blond following after him who then peered out from behind his shoulder, mouth agape. "Oooh wow. Look at that!" He exclaimed with his eyes wide whilst pointing excitedly to the pair who were sitting upright against the wall beside each other. However, it seemed they were both asleep since Harrie was drooling over Raiden's arm whilst the cyborg sat with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed.

Cain, however, glanced at them with a frown and nudged at Raiden. "Tinman. Wake up."

The cyborg stirred, opening his eyes. "...Cain?"

"Come with me. I need to talk to ya. Don't worry about Harrie, she'll be fine. Ivy is on her way as we speak for the check up."

He remembered Cain mentioning the doctor's name and when Cain kicked open the door a little wider complete with a tilt of his head, Raiden got up to stand. To his surprise, Harrie suddenly shifted and grabbed his leg and clung onto him. Sighing heavily, Cain turned to Sasaki, who nodded. The blond bounded over and grabbed Harrie, peeling her off Raiden.

"Can't she come with us?" Raiden asked; he didn't like seeing how distressed she was.

"She'll be fine, Raiden."

Harrie immediately began wailing loudly, reaching out desperately for Raiden. Sasaki struggled with her but once the cyborg was free, Cain grabbed Raiden by the shoulder and whisked him out of the room; Harrie's distraught wails followed them out. "You have my thanks, Sasaki. Watch over her for now."

"R-right, boss..." muttered Sasaki, who was still struggling with the flailing Harrie.

Closing the door behind them, Cain said, "Well, I think I've had about enough of this dismal joint. Let's go somewhere else for a chat. This way." He led him out of the building and into another corridor. Raiden allowed his eyesight to adjust to the light and trailed after Cain into another small room which appeared to be Cain's office. It was relatively small with a desk and two chairs, a bookshelf with a few rusty tomes and a fraying world map taped to the wall.

"When will Harrie get better?"

"Who knows?"

His fist clinched at Cain's surprisingly aloof response. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Just let her regain her memories slowly. Maybe you should act out some scenes to jog her memory back, hm?" Cain suggested.

He pondered for a while then ultimately remembered the Brazilian and the canine cyborg. "And where's Sam and Bladepuppy?" He could really do with their help, for example.

"They're recovering. Don't worry, you'll get to see them soon."

"Where are we anyway? Underground?"

"My, my, aren't you a curious tinman? Yep, we're underground. It's a shelter that was constructed a long time ago. There seems to be lots of tunnels connecting to other parts of the area, too." Cain replied; he shut the door behind Raiden and gestured for him to sit on the moldy chair in front of the desk in the room as he took his own seat. "We have the Elders to thank for that."

"The Elders?"

"The humans who lived before us. You know, when the cyborg uprising started."

"You mean...there are humans who are still alive when this happened?"

Cain shook his head sadly. "...Unfortunately, no. But that's what I've been meaning to talk to you about." He muttered, "Mark two. We heard what Harrie said. Do you have any idea what it means?"

It was Raiden's turn to shake his head.

"I see..." Cain uttered, before he simmered into silence.

"Do you know something? What is it? Tell me."

The burly man stood up in his seat. "Let me tell you something first." He sauntered to the back of his room, facing the world map with a sigh. "I was born and raised a soldier, Raiden. You could say I was jes' like you."

Immediately, Raiden stiffened all over.

"...But I am also not like you, because I was taught to kill cyborgs and to protect. My first rifle – I remember it was a Grizzly, .22-caliber - My pa handed me that before he died in front of my eyes. We was in an ambush, you see. The cyborgs tried to take me away that night but I used that rifle to protect myself. I was five years old and I survived." Turning to Raiden, he added, "I reckon Harrie's probably told you the day her parents died? She was the only survivor of that massacre."

He nodded weakly.

"The reason they captured her and took her to that prison, and not killed her right there and then is cos' they need them children." Cain muttered, "They take 'em, they rip out their brains and their spinal cords...and they feed them into these exoskeletons, to make more cyborgs. I saw it with my own eyes. And I'm sure Harrie saw it, too. But judgin' from yer facial expression at the moment I take it she never told you that either."

He was at a loss for words. Unimaginable horror flicked across his face as Cain's words echoed in his mind. "They...they...take the..."

"We protect the children...or whatever child that is out there these days. There aren't many. Me, Sasaki and Ivy and the others are lucky to be alive in this day and age. But that leads me to the other thing that I wanna mention to ya."

"What other thing?"

"Clones."

"Clones?"

"Yep. Your friend, the scruffy man, Sam. He's a clone." Cain uttered, "I s'pose you sorta knew that too."

"I fought him in 2018."

And Cain nodded. "He probably doesn't know it."

"He doesn't."

"Let's jes keep it that way."

"Is that fair?"

"It doesn't matter if it's fair or not. This is the way life is these days."

"Who woud've done such a thing?"

"When the whole world went kaput, they needed to find ways to fight the cyborgs. They resorted to everything."

"So they started cloning the people I once fought?"

"They were the strongest folk you went up against in your life. They stood a better chance."

"Why not Snake? Why not Otacon?" Raiden said. _And why do I get the feeling that this is about me? I don't really understand it, but...there's something not right about this picture. _

"Ah. Snake and Otacon... I need to show you something." He went to his bookshelf and pulled out one of his books, "As a means to document our history about the war between the humans and the cyborgs, our Elders wrote down everything in intricate detail." He showed a random page to Raiden, who winced slightly when he saw the faded word 'Wikipedia' and the globe logo at the very top. "According to the Elders, the great deity Solid Snake and holy patron Saint Otacon worked together to make the world a peaceful place. However, after their passing onto the great beyond and their attainment of Godhood, the world once again became full of turmoil and discontent. Sensing that the protectors were no longer around, the cyborgs began The Great Purge in which they began to collect together and commence the mass genocide of the human race."

He listened, remembering that Harrie had told him something identical to this some time ago. However, something still unnerved him: _Deity? Holy Saint? _He coughed into his fist. "Uh...Cain?"

"Yes, son?"

Holding one clawed finger up, he said, "...The great deity Solid Snake?"

"It's in the book." Cain replied as he flipped to another page and showed it to him; Raiden stared at the black and white illustration of a snake. "Solid Snake was a mythical creature who could assume human form."

His eyes widened. _They've really got everything wrong here. _"...And Otacon?"

"Ah, we have proof of his existence." Cain turned and went to his cupboard, pulling out a small box made out of glass. Inside was a flimsy little sheet of yellowing paper which had Raiden raising a brow. "We have some holy scriptures handwritten by Otacon."

From behind the glass, Raiden scanned the contents of the list. It said:

_Cereal (Lucky Charms)_

_Semi-skimmed milk_

_Sausages (sliced/link)_

_Sake_

_Revoltech Kikuri-hime_

"That's a..." The cyborg began.

"We understand that these are materials that no longer exist in this world. Although we aren't really sure who or what this '_Kikuri-hime_' is and its general purpose."

He watched Cain beadily. _Should I tell them it's a grocery list?_

"Living proof." Cain said, with a satisfied hum, "That the patron Saint exists." He proceeded to replace the box back into his cupboard. "The people would be lost without it."

Raiden did a double take. _Maybe not... _"Who wrote that book anyway?"

"We don't know."

"Y-you don't know?" He spluttered.

"According to my knowledge, one of the Elders came across it one day when he was scavenging and found all these...interesting things."

"B-but all the things written inside... i-it could be fake!"

With that, Cain shrugged. "Anyway, this isn't about Snake or Otacon – "

"Yep." He agreed quickly.

"Now that you're here, this is great news." Cain said with a grin, "You can help us."


	21. Chapter 21

Hi everyone, thanks for the review. In response to some reviews (since I didn't post any notes last update, my bad), I've had a review I'd like to reply to, but my reply will also apply to everyone reading this fic, especially if a reader has raised this, if they are feeling and thinking that way, then maybe some of you are, too.

Heterochromatin makes a good point because I do refer to everything as cyborgs. From Raiden to Bladepuppy. That's seriously an honest-to-god mistake of mine, so oops. I'm not really sure why that happened since the earlier chapters I said UGs but the latest updates I had completely forgotten about that and just referred to everything as cyborgs.

But I also wanna say that cyborgs and UGs are all called 'cyborgs' as a loose term in this fic at some moments because from what you get from The Resistance, they have very little knowledge and fear everything that is technology-related (until now, apparently). They generalized every machine into one category – cyborgs. Hope that helps and again, sorry for the mistake - won't happen again! :)

Enjoy this update ~

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><p><strong>SOMEONE LIKE YOU<strong>

Cain pulled off the world map from his wall and placed it flat over his desk surface; he used two of his dusty books to keep the map from curling back up. Raiden joined his side, arms crossed as he scanned the diagram.

"There." Cain pointed at a particular area of the map and tapped at it with his index finger. "We believe the cyborg capital is roughly here..."

"Nebraska?" Raiden questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Yes."

"So they're closer than we realize."

"Precisely." Cain glanced away from the map to Raiden before planting his big hairy palm on his shoulder; although a fraction of a second later and he retreated the hand away, "Son, you're the key to everything. I know now why Harrie was so determined to find you."

Maybe Harrie had given him too much credit. He felt sheepish all of a sudden and threw his gaze to the side.

"We tried to fight them, many years ago but we were outnumbered and heavily outmatched. We're now at a state where we are holed up here, and the cyborgs and UGs all reside in one area, just like us. The only problem is we don't really know how powerful they've become now. Therefore our plan," Cain said, "Is for you to infiltrate the cyborg capital, conduct some espionage...weaken their defenses, the usual. Once that's out of the way, they'll be wide open for an attack and that's when we come in."

"...You want me to stroll right in and sabotage? Is it really that easy?"

He shrugged. "They must've tried to recruit you at some point."

It was then he remembered Tetsuo had once asked him to join their side since he was 'one of them'. Of course he flat out refused. "What if they get suspicious?"

"Alright, then I shall come with you." Cain said, "Tell them you have captured me, the leader of the Resistance. That will earn their trust and they'll welcome you into their arms, recognizing you as one of their own."

"That's suicide, Cain."

"If it can stop them, then that's the risk I'm willing to take."

Raiden shook his head in disagreement. "No, I can't let that happen; you need to stay here." He said, "You're their leader, and that's why you need to stay. They need you. I'll work something out. I'll go – " He paused in his sentence, struggling slightly, "I'll go alone."

Cain's expression softened almost at once; in fact, Raiden didn't think such a scary-looking, intimidating man could be capable of making such an expression. Letting out a bemused chuckle, Cain suddenly slapped him heartily on the back, making a bolt pop out of one shoulder joint and clatter to the floor. "Waaahahaha!" He barked with gruff laughter, as Raiden went to pick up, holding it up between his clawed fingers, "I can tell why Harrie likes you so much!"

He stiffened and shifted his gaze to the floor next. "_The plan_." Raiden grunted, wanting to change the subject, "If this plan is to go underway, I need to know everything."

"Of course!" Cain exclaimed, "We'll need to gather the others though – Sasaki, Ivy, and the rest of my men. They need to be briefed on this too. Raiden, come to the main hall this evening. I'll be holding a meeting; I'll get Sasaki to escort you."

He nodded briefly and exited the office, leaving Cain to his own devices. So that was Cain's plan; to get Raiden to infiltrate the cyborg capital and sabotage their defenses. How exactly he would weaken their defenses, he wasn't too sure. Perhaps Cain would elaborate more this evening. He returned to Harrie's room only to see that there were already two people inside – Sasaki, with a rather large bucket of steaming hot water beside him, and also, a woman with her back to him.

"Oh, hey Tinman. How was the meeting with Cain?" said Sasaki, grinning at him. Despite his shabby appearance like the rest of the humans Raiden had come across, Sasaki had pearly white teeth.

"I've been invited to another meeting." Raiden replied.

"That's great!" The blond went up to him and grabbed his hand, shaking it. "I don't think I introduced myself earlier, but I'm Johnny Sasaki the Fifth."

"...The fifth?"

"Yeah. That's what my granddad told me. My father was also called Johnny too. Actually I could be the Fourth. I don't really know. Not that it matters anyway, right? People just call me 'Sasaki' to avoid confusion."

He had no clue what Sasaki was talking about but at least he was friendly, which was refreshing for a change. "I'm Raiden." He said.

Sasaki chuckled and ran a hand through his dirty blond locks. "Haha, we all know who you are. You're really popular at the moment."

The woman, who had been squatting down beside Harrie, finally stood up and turned round to face him. He froze once their eyes met. _...Rose?_

"Raiden, it's good to finally meet you." She said, as though oblivious to his reaction. "I'm Ivy."

"...Ivy." He croaked out. Oh, right. He remembered Cain and Harrie mentioning the name on several occasions. Ivy was their doctor. Not Rose. She saved Harrie. _Not Rose._ "The doctor?" He uttered.

"Yes."

"She's mentioned you to me before. I heard you removed her chip."

Ivy nodded. "It was a close call."

"Thank you for saving her."

"...No need to thank me. This is the least I can do."

"How is she anyway?"

"She's fine. Aside from her memories and her current mental state, she's okay. I conducted a check up and she's stable. No wounds, no injuries, nothing internal. She's completely fine. I have you to thank for that. Thank you for taking such good care of her and bringing her to us safely."

Again, he felt sheepish. Had he really done such a great job of keeping Harrie safe? He did not feel like he had, considering how much peril she went through with him. He watched Ivy gather the rest of her belongings. The woman was dressed in a scruffy white tank top with a torn rim and like the rest of the Resistance, she wore dark khaki pants and combat boots and her hands were donned in fingerless gloves. She stood up, meeting his gaze again with those piercing brown eyes of hers. With a flick of her long dark hair as she slung her bag of tools over one shoulder, she said, "Well, that's my work here done. I should get going. Excuse me."

Whilst Sasaki waved her off, Raiden stepped to the side so she could exit the room and as she brushed past him, he couldn't help himself; he stared at her shamelessly as she left silently. He couldn't help but be reminded of Rose. She was too...too...he wasn't sure what it _was_, but there was something about her which reminded him of Rose, _some way_. It must be the long black hair. Maybe.

He snapped out of his staring stupor when he heard Sasaki shuffling; he glanced over only to see Sasaki who was now trying to get Harrie to stand, helping her up by holding her arm. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Sasaki blinked at the cyborg blankly. "I've prepared a nice, hot bath for her."

"WHAT?"

"What did you think I was doing?"

"Here?"

"Uh. Yeah...?"

Before he knew it, he had stormed up to Sasaki and grabbed Harrie's other arm whilst glowering at the blond; the girl was now squashed inbetween them, chewing on a few strands of her hair and throwing blank glances to the two men, "I'll do it." Raiden snapped, and Harrie swerved her vacant gaze to him.

Sasaki was protesting all at once, pulling Harrie closer to his direction. "No, I'm supposed to do it. I have orders - "

And Raiden tugged Harrie closer to his side. She let out a morbid wail, having been unwittingly caught in the middle, "You're a _guy_."

Sasaki pulled Harrie back to him, his eyes narrowing at the cyborg. "And you aren't? What's your point? Besides, it's not like I'm gonna do anything to her."

"Why isn't Ivy helping her?"

"Ivy's busy. She's got other patients to see."

"Then it should be another person doing this. A female – "

"Does it look like there are other females around right now? In fact, do you see anyone else around?"

With one final tug, Raiden pulled Harrie from Sasaki's grip and she was safe in his arms, "I don't trust you." He barked, with Harrie now chewing on one of his fingers, "And I'm looking after Harrie."

Sasaki let out a disgruntled noise from the back of his throat but otherwise did not protest. "Geez. Possessive, much? Fine. You bathe her then." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and slinked out of the room.

Raiden nodded at himself at his personal victory but the moment was short-lived for he glanced down at Harrie and he noticed she was blinking up at him inquisitively and the gravity of what he had just accomplished finally dawned to him. Raiden threw a quick glimpse at the bucket of hot water in the corner. A set of clean clothes, a couple of towels, sponge, and what looked like a bar of soap was supplied, lying atop her bed in a neat pile. He deadpanned immediately.

_...What have I just done?_

Maybe he should've let Sasaki take care of Harrie's bath after all...?

His mind roared immediately: _NO!_ No way. It was better that _he_ was the one doing it, not Sasaki. Sasaki was nice, but he didn't trust him to carry out this task.

"R-right. Harrie, time for your...bath." He stumbled over his words and eventually grew quieter with the last. Raiden stormed out of the room and glanced around the corridor. Sasaki was right; there was no-one around. Guess it would just be himself and Harrie...

He closed the door, returned to Harrie and guided her to sit in the corner near the bucket of water. She reached for it but he stopped her from potentially burning herself by grabbing her hand and she looked at him again with those large round eyes of hers. He swallowed down the lump in his throat that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Inwardly, he pondered how he would go about doing this. Should he even be doing this? Would Harrie be okay with him..._bathing_ her? But she was incapable of caring for herself right now...

He came to the conclusion that it had to be done; now or never. He wasn't going to neglect her either, therefore he sat himself in front of her, reached out and his clawed hands landed on a section of her shirt and he stopped. He found himself uncomfortable as he attempted to lift the shirt up. _What the hell is wrong with me_, he thought angrily, looking away to avoid eye contact with her. He focused on staring at the wall beside them, as he eased Harrie's shirt higher and higher. Meanwhile, Harrie sat limply, staring at his hands but not saying anything. Inwardly he hoped she would retaliate in some way but now she seemed uninterested in remotely doing _anything_, and when the shirt would lift up no longer, he realized he had to get her to lift her arms and thus he turned to face her.

"...Harrie?" He breathed out; his voice was barely above a whisper.

She was unresponsive, chewing on her fist. He nervously and almost reluctantly, pulled her fist out of her mouth, lifted her right arm first slowly and inched the corresponding sleeve off her arm. Now it was the left arm's turn. Surprisingly enough, Harrie was obedient the entire time and allowed him to slip her arms out and he eased the shirt off her head, pulling it off. He stopped immediately in his actions; he didn't think it could happen or if it was even possible but his face grew hot all of a sudden. Very hot. He was unable to comprehend why he was even feeling this way or what would've incurred this reaction. He was a cyborg. _Blushing_ wasn't supposed to be one of his functions. Plus, he'd seen Rose naked when they slept together. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a naked woman before. And he wasn't a teenager. He was a grown man. He'd bathed a naked human before. He'd bathed Little John when he was a baby. He'd changed his diaper before. And when he was feeding Harrie earlier, he likened it to feeding a baby.

So this would be the same, right? What would be the difference...?

He brushed all awkward thoughts to the side and concentrated on getting Harrie out of the remainder of the clothing they had provided her with and when he had stripped her of the last garment and she was nude before him, he put her clothes to the side where they would not get wet and they sat in silence, staring at each other. Raiden reached over, grabbed the sponge and dunked it into the hot water before lifting it back out, planting the heavy sponge over one pale shoulder; he watched the water leak out and over her skin before he began scrubbing. Once he'd soaked her to a certain extent, he returned the sponge to the bucket and squeezed it of excess water, then rubbed at the other shoulder. She watched his actions but said nothing, nor did she move. She sat very still the entire duration.

He worked silently, holding one of her hands and scrubbing at the length of her thin arm. She was very thin, to the point that it worried him. He did the same for her other arm before he grabbed her shoulders, turned her round to wash her back. Raiden continued his efforts wordlessly and when he had finished, he draped the towel around her body and patted her dry before helping her to stand in front of him. She wobbled slightly on her legs so he had her sit on the edge of the bed and grabbed the clean set of clothes they had given her before redressing her.

Once that task was finished, the door opened and there stood Cain. "You done?"

Raiden glanced over his shoulder as Harrie sucked on one of the sleeves of her new shirt. "Yeah."

Cain glanced at the girl on the bed from head to toe. "Good job." He commented, and Raiden felt his face grow hot again. "...It's okay, son. You don't need to say it, or acknowledge it, but I know you really care for her."

He said nothing.

"It's nuthin' to be ashamed of." Cain replied with a chuckle; he stepped further into the room and picked up the now-empty bucket and the damp sponge and towel, "I had a wife and kid. They were my pride and joy. It's good to have someone you cherish, Raiden. It makes you want to protect, to become stronger for them."

Raiden contemplated his words and lowered his gaze to the floor. "...I want to protect Harrie." He said, after a short while, "Even if it costs me my life. I want to become stronger for her."

Cain emitted a quiet sigh and patted Raiden on the back. "Yer a good kid." He muttered, "...And you're lucky to have found each other. You're lucky to have someone like her, and she's lucky to have someone like you."

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><p><strong>Note:<strong>

This chapter was written for any Raiden x Harrie shippers out there because the fluff content in this chapter was...astronomical. Think it OOC of Raiden or whatever but I hope this actually shows more development in their relationship but also NOT to show that Raiden has completely gotten over Rose and his family etc. In terms of this bath scene, I wrote it with no intention to anything related to lime or lemon either. In fact, I would say it was the exact opposite. It was to show trust and pure, genuine affection for someone, where someone is completely vulnerable and the other person does not take advantage in any way. Otherwise, you are welcome to interpret it in anyway you wish :)


	22. Chapter 22

Hi everyone, thank you very much for the reviews. Just to let you know, I think this fic is actually almost finished. In response to some questions:

**Q: How is Raiden healing himself after fights? **

A: Raiden's most recent fight was against Bladepuppy/Tetsuo - Harrie had been fixing him. And after Cain pulled off his arms and legs as precautions, he also had the Resistance's mechanics fix him.

**Q: Can he still zandatsu?**

A: Raiden has not used zandatsu yet

**Q: If the Sam clone has the red katana, then what about Raiden's other gear, like his other bodies and special weapons? Wouldn't a Maverick base have gear Raiden could use?**

A: I mashed 2 questions into 1 because the answer is the same: most labs have been raided but majority have simply been destroyed during the war.

**Q: What was the extent of the cyborgs reach, and what did they take that they could use?**

A: The cyborgs and UGs have taken over most of the world, decimating major cities and entire continents. The fic mostly concentrates on events happening in the US, starting from Denver where Harrie lived, then to Idaho, where the American Resistance are. The cyborgs have taken technology away from mankind to prevent them from uprising and have driven them to seek refuge underground. Some become bandits, cannibals or live like nomads.

**Q: Where's George?**

A: George has been mentioned in the story but will not be present in the story. I am aiming to be as unambiguous as possible in terms of the fate of certain canon characters, such as what happened to X etc. For eg, I considered writing about Meryl and Johnny but decided not to. If I start saying this happened to A or this happened to B then it will disengage you from the story. I have only mentioned Rose passing away because of her relationship with Raiden.

**Q: (Ok this is not really a question but I added it in anyway) will there be anymore bloodlust and action?**

A: Yep

* * *

><p><strong>AN IDEAL OF HOPE<strong>

Tetsuo looked up when his cell door slid open and a man strode into his confinements. "...My lord?"

"I grow tired of your failures, Tetsuo. However, I shall be generous and offer you one last chance to redeem yourself."

"What chance?"

"Raiden." said the lord, "Bring him to me. We've already discovered his location."

Tetsuo was slightly confused. "...How?"

"The ship which you took to Salt Lake City was hijacked, and landed shortly within the Resistance's old stronghold. A scout then picked up a RAY heading to a location outwith its patrol vicinity. I've come to believe that it was a RAY that has been taken over by the humans."

"The Resistance?"

"Yes."

Tetsuo slowly stood up, his shackles clacking loudly against each other. "Yes, my lord. I shall go immediately, and I shall not fail you this time...I swear it."

...

Before the meeting, Raiden left Harrie asleep in her room and ventured outside. He hadn't been anywhere aside from his interrogation room, Harrie's room and Cain's office. As Cain mentioned, the Resistance's base appeared to be a network of connected tunnels. Cain pointed him to the right direction, marking the meeting room on his VR display, his soliditon radar, and his internal communication system. He also marked down other points of interest, namely a shady hawker who was known to be able to get his hands on anything, from peanut butter to AK47s.

Leaving Harrie in the sanctuary of her room (albeit wrapped up in a straitjacket), Raiden headed out into the dank, dark corridor. He turned the left as Cain instructed and came to a heavy metal door which he opened by turning the door wheel clockwise. The door creaked open with his efforts and before him was a large, dimly lit hall that thoroughly reminded him of an indoor market. He turned round and glanced at the sign behind him. It said 'Infirmary'. So Harrie was in the infirmary; he made a mental note of the location. Once he took one step forwards, the expanse fell quiet upon his arrival. The humans stopped in all their endeavors. All eyes landed on him. Raiden watched them in return with an equally blank stare of his own before taking another cautious step forwards.

The atmosphere was thick and heavy; he wasn't sure if he was sensing hostility or apprehension, for it appeared to be a mix of both. He was used to these kinds of stares; he had them aplenty from strangers alike even before he was deactivated. Despite the fact that more than a century had passed, the attitude humans had towards cyborgs and UGs were more or less the same, or perhaps, worse. It was a little disappointing upon realization. As he walked in, he noticed that the humans - much like Harrie when he met her - were shabby to look at. They were grimy and dirty from top to bottom, either dressed in rags or combat attire, like Cain or Sasaki. The humans in combat attire were in slightly better shape. He suspected that some were civilians and some were Cain's soldiers. The ones who were civilians were huddled together in their own little groups whilst the soldiers were in their own cliques. All the humans did have something in common, however – their eyes – they all exhibited blank, glassy looks. The thousand yard stare.

Suddenly, six men approached him, dressed in combat garb. The one in front – he was tall, bald and enormous, his pecs bulging, his arms rippling with thick muscles. The other five were slightly smaller in stature but still burly. Their sudden appearance didn't seem to bode well as they blocked his path.

"And what do they call you around here? Let me guess...Tiny Tim?" Raiden said.

The bald man, who reminded him a little of Sundowner, was chewing something in his mouth before he spat it out and it hit against Raiden's chest, causing a hollow 'thunk' noise. The object dropped to the ground and rolled beside one clawed toe; Raiden saw that it was a bullet. "What do we have here, boys? Looks like we got ourselves a new toy."

"What do you want?" Raiden snarled, eyes narrowing.

"What do you think?"

"What's your problem?"

"Just don't like the look of you, that's all." He gave Raiden one almighty shove with both arms – or tried to, at least – Raiden moved a mere few inches from his spot despite the intended force of the push.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?"

The bald man made a gesture with a tilt of his head, and his smaller lackeys approached Raiden. He was surprised by how dauntless they were as they surrounded him, ready to take him on in a fistfight since he did not have his HF blade on him. One went lunging at him with a fierce battlecry, fists out. Raiden ducked and booted the man on the back with one heeled foot, sending him crashing to one wall. The second came at him subsequently with a clenched fist; again, Raiden evaded the flying fist of fury and responded with one of his own – he punched the man in the cheek with as little force compared to usual, yet the man went flying up in the air, howling. He defeated another with a sweeping kick and a swift elbow to the gut. He slammed his curled fist into the nose into another. The last, he cuffed on the side of the head and threw him five feet into the air.

One by one, they fell, and finally the ringleader decided to step into the foray. "Alright, pretty boy, now you're really startin' to piss me off." He came at Raiden, swinging one massive clenched fist at him. He ducked to the left just in time to narrowly avoid the other fist. The man still was not done with him yet – he tackled Raiden, sending them both crashing towards a group of unsuspecting civilians who screamed and scrabbled away from the brawl. His lackeys returned, throwing themselves atop the bald man and it was an unsightly rugby-like pile of limbs and metal all clashing together messily until –

All six men found themselves swept off their feet and tossed into the air like ragdolls; with a yell, Raiden had shoved them all off him and they returned to the ground, rolling around in agony.

Glaring at the rest of the humans before him, he snarled, "Anyone else want a piece of me?!"

He was met with silence.

Out of nowhere, a ball came bouncing at his feet and came to a stop, rolling to his heels.

His eyebrow rose and suddenly, a little boy, perhaps no older than five, with messy brown hair and dressed in a grubby, raggedy t-shirt and slacks came waddling out from one of the groups, approaching him. He stopped shortly in front of Raiden, looking up at the cyborg with his blue eyes. "...Can I have my ball back, please?" He said.

Raiden lowered himself to one knee before the boy who began fidgeting with the torn rims of his shirt. He picked up the ball with one clawed hand and handed it to him. "Here."

"Thanks, Mister – " Before he could say anything else, he was snatched up by a woman – the mother, presumably.

Raiden stood back up to his full height, towering over the little woman who stared at him with widened eyes. She clutched the boy to her tightly, but otherwise said nothing to Raiden and hurried back into her group in silence. His eyebrows furrowed as he watched her retreating back before glancing at the men who had tried to take him on – all six were now retreating away into a tunnel somewhere. _Cain was right – things have changed. They probably still don't like cyborgs and they probably won't accept me but they're not gonna throw me out or anything. I probably shouldn't have gotten involved in that fight, either..._

He ventured further, aware of people whispering about him and staying as far away as possible from him and he exited the first area and into another which was lined with dozens of bed – the sleeping quarters, it appeared. There, he spotted a familiar-looking, but not-so-scruffy man in one corner who was in deep conversation with a young woman with dark hair tied up into a high ponytail; she wore a khaki jumpsuit with the front unzipped, exposing a black cropped tank top underneath. A few moments later and suddenly the woman's expression darkened and she smacked Sam across the cheek before storming off in a huff.

"Sam!" Raiden exclaimed, as Sam watched the woman stalking away albeit with a grin on his face.

The man turned and glanced at the cyborg, his cheek now imbued with a red handprint on it. "Blondie!"

Raiden quickly made his way up to him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"That looked painful."

Sam's grin merely widened. "It means she likes me."

Raiden crossed his arms as Sam rubbed at his cheek, "Really? I'm pretty sure it usually means the opposite."

The Brazilian patted him heftily on the back before releasing him, grabbing his shoulders next, giving him another rough pat on his pauldron. "It's good to see you too, Blondie."

"Yeah. Good to see you, Sam." He muttered, for never would he have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that he could have become so forthcoming with Sam. Even if the man before him was a clone, this was a second chance to make things right. His grin dropped abruptly then at the mere thought – should he tell Sam he is a clone...? Suddenly, there was a large weight pouncing on him and he glanced down to see it was none other than Bladepuppy who also appeared excited to see him. "Whoa...down, boy." He murmured, as Bladepuppy bit and gnawed at his clawed fingers vigorously, his tail wagging.

"He missed you and the chica the most." Sam said, trudging towards his bed and sitting himself down over the thin mattress. With Bladepuppy in his arms and still trying to bite off his fingers, Raiden glanced at the bed and the pile of belongings beside it – ranging from Sam's dusty trenchcoat, the sneakers he had salvaged earlier from Salt Lake City, to his sword.

"They gave you a place to sleep?"

"Yes, they were kind enough to give me some shelter. Want some rations?" Sam held up a packet of dried nuts.

"No thanks, I'm good." Raiden replied, as Sam tore open the packet and stuffed a few kernels into his mouth, "Looks like they gave you a bath too since the smell's gone."

"Very funny, Blondie." Sam said, and laughter erupted from both men; it'd been some time since they bickered. Sam added, "How is the chica anyway? I heard she is...er..." He struggled to find the words, "_Invalido_. At least, in here." He pointed to his temple, "As you would say it...'not right in the head'?"

He cringed slightly. "I'm looking after her right now. It'll take some time."

Sam threw his glance to the floor. "I am...sorry."

"It's not your fault, Sam." He replied, "By the way, what's with the suit?"

"Hm?" Sam glanced down at himself; he was adorned in a white exoskeleton suit. To Raiden, he fully resembled the Jetstream Sam he used to know. Even his hair was tied into a high ponytail. "Ah, this...I like it. It feels like I am wearing nothing at all."

"That's, uh...good?" He said, as Sam flexed his biceps; the suit clung to him like a second skin. "Uh, when we got separated..."

"They were suspicious of me at first but now everything seems to be water under the bridge."

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of days."

He wondered if Sam was subjected to any 'precautions' but just from looking at the man and how much cleaner he was, he thought otherwise. "And what about Bladepuppy?" He held the dog up to his level under its front paws and peered at him curiously, "Did they do anything to you?"

The UG averted its gaze away from Raiden but said, "I am fine, Raiden."

"Hn." Raiden grunted, but it seemed Bladepuppy wasn't willing to divulge any further. "Well, you look okay to me..." He replied. It was then he noticed a dogtag around Sam's neck which he hadn't noticed before. "What's that?"

"Huh? Oh, this. It is symbol." Sam said, before he gestured to the groups of humans who were dressed in combat attire.

"You'll be fighting?"

He nodded and a wave of worry washed over Raiden but as though sensing this, Sam let out a bark of gruff laughter, grabbed him and patted Raiden heftily on the shoulder again. "Hah! What's with that look, Blondie? Are you worried for my safety?"

"No. As if I care. Get off." He snapped, shrugging himself away from Sam's hold, which only caused Sam to laugh even harder at his response, "What do you think of this place anyway? And the people?"

Sam shrugged, "So-so. They're a bit strange, but I've seen stranger. What about you?"

Before Raiden could reply, the light on Bladepuppy's snout lit up and it said, "Raiden, I want to visit my Master."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Glancing down at the UG who was still in his arms, he allowed it to hop off and onto the ground where it scratched at its ear with one metal paw. "Do you know where she is? Want me to show you?"

Looking up at both men, Bladepuppy stopped his scratching, shook himself all over and said, "I will be fine. I will return soon. Goodbye, Samuel."

"_Cachorro_, don't get lost now, hm?"

"Verb: Get lost. That is irrelevant to me as I am designed with inbuilt sensors thus the capacity for me to 'get lost' is not applicable." With that, the UG turned and disappeared through the throng of humans.

"...Ay, he's the strangest of them all." Sam muttered, and Raiden nodded in agreement. Watching the UG, Sam stood up and patted Raiden's shoulder once more. "Come, mi amigo, let me show you around. I'll give you the grand tour."

Raiden raised a brow but grinned, "You've only been here for a few days and already you're acting as if you own the place."

Sam merely grinned in response and together they made their way further into the depths of the hall.

...

**LATER**

"Alright, everyone settle down. The meeting's about to start."

Immediately the room went quiet as Cain walked up to the front; he glanced at the faces in the crowd before him; Sasaki was amongst those in the very front row, along with Raiden and his scruffy friend known as Sam. Ivy stood at the very back with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting.

"Hm...is that everyone today?" He muttered, making a tally score of all the faces he could see in the room. The numbers seemed to be dwindling... "Right then. I have good and bad news for everyone today. Let's start with the bad news to get it out of the way. As you may all know, an escort convoy went under attack by three Mastiffs and four Gekkos a few weeks ago. A total of seventeen of our men were killed, five mortally wounded. Four out of ten evacuees survived. Also, three Water Striders were spotted within the vicinity of Sector Eight too, so I want you all to remain on high alert. Our food supplies have also reduced significantly, we're coming to our last few bags of rations. We need a team to head to the surface to go scavenging tomorrow morning. Any volunteers?"

The room remained quiet but a few men and women raised their arms.

"Alright, four. Well, that's two more than last time..." Cain muttered to himself. "Very good, report to Ivy after the meeting. Now, onto the good news. The good news is we have gained new allies – Samuel Rodrigues who has come to us all the way from Shadow Mountain, a UG known as IF-protoype LQ-86i... or _Bladepuppy_ as he is known to be called, and we also have Harriet Emmerich and Raiden – "

As Cain continued his speech, Raiden glanced up, alarmed. "Huh?"

"Blondie," Sam whispered, upon seeing Raiden's change of expression, "What's wrong?"

"Harrie's surname is _Emmerich_?"

Sam glanced at him, confused.

"Raiden, would you please stand up?"

But Raiden was deep in thought, unsure what to think of this sudden and newfound revelation about Harrie.

"Blondie, he's talking to you."

"What?"

Suddenly, all eyes in the room were on him again. Indeed, Cain had been calling for Raiden two or three times now; Raiden got up clumsily, glancing at the soldiers and Cain approached him and planted a firm hand on his shoulder. "Everyone, this is Raiden." Cain replied, and everyone dissolved into hushed whispers. "For a long time, our Founders implanted the idea that we should fear and despise all cyborgs...and for a long time, we _have_ feared and despised cyborgs and UGs alike. That time is no longer for things have changed and in order to survive, we needed to adapt. We needed to change our ways and to embrace these changes. I thank you all for sharing those ideals with me, which is why you are present today in this room. Raiden, I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but I want you to know that we really are happy that you are here. You see, everyone, Raiden has history in assisting humans. He overthrew the evil cult known as _World Marshal_ on his own and he is Harrie's bodyguard. He has agreed to assist us."

He didn't recall agreeing to help anyone but then ultimately his stay here must mean that he had agreed to some extent. _Wait a minute, did he just say 'evil cult'?_

Cain continued, "Raiden will assist us in our war against the cyborgs. From our recent scouting missions, our intel has pinpointed the cyborg capital to one prime location in Nebraska. The plan is to get Raiden to infiltrate the capital where he will sabotage their forces, weaken their defenses, allowing us to launch a full scale attack. Any questions?"

A woman amongst the crowd suddenly stood up and said, "You are basically instructing us to entrust our very lives with this...machine?"

Cain's expression scrunched up. "I guess some of you are still wary. That's fine. I anticipated this. Cici, I understand your caution and apprehension, but Raiden - "

"He's still a cyborg. He is not one of us."

"I assure you, Raiden is on our side."

The woman called Cici who had asked the antagonizing questions continued, "I know we've welcomed some cyborgs into our ranks, but they just have some minor enhancements so they are not so much of a threat, but this man before us here has underwent a full-body conversion. He's stronger than anyone here. They could control him without us even knowing. That makes him – " She pointed at Raiden directly, "_Dangerous_."

Cain was about to protest until Raiden stepped forth, "If I was a danger to you right now, you wouldn't even be standing there in one piece."

"Was that a death-threat?" Cici snarled, and Ivy sighed and shifted from her spot.

"Calm down." uttered the doctor, stepping forwards, "Taking that tone won't help the situation; what Raiden says makes sense. If he was really a danger, he's had plenty of opportunities to kill us, and he hasn't."

"But that's exactly it! He could be a sleeper! He could be trying to earn us trust before he cuts us all down! He could do that at any time!"

"Hey." Now it was Sam's turn to join in; he stood up beside Raiden and Cain, facing the woman with a frown, "I traveled with this man and he is not what you claim him to be. He is a good man and I will not stand for false accusations."

Whilst Sam and the woman argued, Sasaki stood up next, interrupting the two. "We checked before we allowed him in anyway. He's never been bugged by the cyborgs at all and he's too old, too prehistoric that he doesn't have any frequency to be tuned into or any of the newest upgrades so even if a cyborg tried to turn him against us, it wouldn't work because he doesn't have any of those capabilities. He's his own. He's walking and talking and thinking on his own. Besides, as Sam said, he was also travelling with himself and Harrie all the time, right?"

_Prehistoric?_ _Am I really that old? _Raiden thought, but he agreed with Sasaki's words and found himself nodding.

Cici went quiet after the three arguing against her case; she glanced around the rest of the room where the others did not seem to want to join in. "What? No-one else got anything to say? Am I the only one who thinks this is a big mistake? Am I the only one who gives a damn? Fine! You're all pathetic! Hmph! I'm not listening to anymore of this!" She abruptly left the meeting room, and Cain sighed loudly.

"...Anyone else got any questions?"

Another man suddenly lifted his arm up, "I have a question, boss. How will he infiltrate the capital?"

"Good question, son." Turning to Raiden, Cain said, "They tried to recruit him at some point. That means them cyborgs already trust him to some degree. All we need to do is get Raiden to go with them to the capital. Now, Raiden, this here is when it gets a little complicated. We believe that the cyborgs are controlled by a single but intricate AI...it's could be _Mark two_ – which is what you heard Harrie say once before, right?"

"Yeah."

"Now, the Mark two...we believe it is the name of the AI and we also believe it lies within the capital, protected by the cyborgs...and in order to destroy this AI, we've been trying to develop a virus to sabotage it but because the frequency that surrounds it keeps changing, it acts like a firewall that changes and won't let us gain access into the Mark two. We need to develop something that can bypass that...but that's not really the problem at hand, the **real **problem is..."

"...It has to be uploaded from within the capital." Raiden suggested, in response to Cain's hesitation, "...And that's why you need me."

Cain nodded, "No-one has ever made it, Raiden. And...all in all, it's venturing into the unknown, and it's a huge risk. But...You may be our only hope."

...

Once the meeting was adjourned, Raiden returned to Harrie's room to see her sitting on the floor, staring at the lightbulb dangling from the ceiling whilst Bladepuppy was hidden in the darkness, resting underneath the gap of the bed although it appeared the UG was preoccupied in biting at the chewed-off sleeve of Harrie's stretchy straitjacket, shaking its head to and fro vigorously and growling loudly.

"Harrie, I'm back." He announced; she glanced away from the light as he shut the door behind him and strode over and lowered himself to one knee close to the UG, picking up Bladepuppy who let go of the sleeve.

"Raiden. You have returned." said the UG, "I do not think it wise that you leave her unattended for a prolonged period of time."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry, the meeting went on for longer than I realized. Sorry, Harrie." He replied, before he put down the dog and turned to the girl. "It's getting late." He muttered; time to get her prepared for bed. She stared at him blankly as he proceeded to scoop her off the floor and into his arms, bundling her up. She made no protest but she was watching his actions keenly and he deposited her onto the bed before pulling the tatty blanket over her.

Once he had her tucked in, Bladepuppy leapt on top of the mattress and curled up near Harrie's feet, the red light on his snout going off. Raiden glanced around the room, wondering where he was supposed to stay or if anything had been prepared for him at all since he didn't recall Cain or Sasaki mentioning anything. _Never mind, it's best I stay with Harrie here_. Raiden proceeded to sit in one corner of the room and fold his arms across his chest. It took him a while as he kept his eyes closed for sleep to take over. However, he jolted awake when he felt a presence near him and he opened his eyes to see Harrie by his side with the blanket draped over herself.

"Harrie?" He said, watching as she sat herself down beside him, holding her knees to her chest. "Harrie, go back to the bed. You can't sleep here. It's too cold."

She made a noise in response.

Sighing, he got up to stand and she glanced up at him; he lifted her off the ground and into his arms where he carried her to the bed. However, as soon as they neared, she began flailing wildly and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging onto him tightly. "What's wrong?"

The light on the UG's snout reappeared and Bladepuppy stretched on his front paws, "...It appears she has an aversion to the bed, Raiden." Bladepuppy replied.

He let out an inward groan. "Harrie, you can't be like this." He said, trying to untangle her arms from his neck. He managed to pull one arm off his neck but this caused her to let out a distressed wail. He heavily disliked the noise, and it was even worse considering he was the one responsible. "Alright, I won't force you."

Glancing around, he returned to the corner of the room and seated himself down with Harrie perched in his lap. She calmed down immediately, her arms loosening around his neck.

"She finds it favorable to be by your side." Bladepuppy stated, as she proceeded to glance around the room cautiously before returning to rest against him.

He wasn't quite sure about Bladepuppy's statement but he decided to make himself comfortable on the floor and stretched his legs out. "Puppy, can you bring the blanket over?" He said, and as requested, Bladepuppy bit down on the blanket and jumped off the bed, trotting towards them. "Thanks." Raiden grabbed one corner of the blanket before draping it over her. Meanwhile, the UG made its way beside them and lowered itself on its paws to rest.

"What was the outcome of the meeting?" Bladepuppy asked; noticing that the UG was beside them, Raiden pulled a section of the blanket over it as well and tucked it in.

"It's been decided: I'm going to the cyborg capital."

"When will this be?"

"I'm not sure. Soon."

"I shall accompany you."

He shook his head as Harrie closed her eyes, leaning against him silently, "No, Puppy, I want you to stay here and look after Harrie from now on."

"You speak as if you will not return."

Raiden threw his glance down to the UG but said nothing.

"Your silence indicates that I am correct. You intend to embark on this mission and not return for the inevitable conclusion... Death." Bladepuppy remarked, "...Therefore, is it wise that you are the one to carry this assignment on your own...or attempt the assignment at all?"

"I have to do this. Just me. No-one else. I said that I would do anything to protect Harrie, even if it costs me my life."

"...I understand."

"Bladepuppy?"

"Yes, Raiden?"

"I've been meaning to ask you this...You acknowledged Harrie as your master, and Harrie's surname is 'Emmerich'. You knew that, didn't you?"

"Affirmative."

"Does that mean Harrie is related to Sunny?"

"No."

"...So what is the connection between Harrie and Sunny?"

"I apologize, Raiden. I cannot provide the answer you are looking for, for I do not possess that knowledge which you ultimately seek. You are best questioning this matter further with Harrie."

Throwing his gaze to Harrie, he murmured, "It doesn't matter anyway. I'm going to go ahead with the mission."

"...Then...will this be...farewell?" Bladepuppy said, although he sounded hesitant. "Good...bye?"

Raiden chuckled wearily under his breath. "Not yet, Puppy. Not yet..."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

**RESISTANCE WATCHTOWER 3**

Sasaki was staring limply at the screen before his mouth stretched into a wide yawn. It was getting very late but he had been tasked with watch duty which meant he had to pull an all-nighter. He had been gazing at the screen, watching the little stick on the radar go round and round in hypnotizing circles and then -

_BLIP._

"Hrm?" Sasaki sat upright in his chair. An icon had appeared, at least two hundred meters away.

_BLIP._

Now another icon had turned up, then two. Three. Four. Five. His eyes widened. Now fully wide awake, Sasaki hopped off his chair. "Shit." He cursed; grabbing the communicator, he pulled it out and screamed, "Code black! I repeat, code black! We have a code black!"

* * *

><p>Note:<p>

Jeralee: Upon writing chapter 22...

Sam: It feels like I am wearing nothing at all

Raiden: (*thinks* It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all. Nuthin' at all. Nuthin at all!) Stupid sexy Sam!

HAHAH hope you got that joke. Btw I can tell why people like Samuraiden. They complete each other.


	23. Chapter 23

**A MESSAGE FOR RAIDEN**

_BOOM._

Raiden awoke to the ground beneath him shaking and distant yelling and shouting outside. Harrie stirred in his arms, blinking groggily. Bladepuppy had left their side, scratching at the door with his paws, "Raiden. There seems to be a disturbance."

"What is it?"

"...They are calling it 'code black'."

There was another distant explosion and Harrie made a perturbed noise in response and wrapped her arms around his neck tighter; he stood up, carrying her to the bed. He had to peel her arms off him but she wailed and reached out for him again. "Harrie, no." He said firmly. "You need to stay here where it's safe." Turning to the UG, he added, "Puppy, look after her for me. I'm going to check."

"Understood, Raiden."

Raiden went to the door but before he could open it, there was a tug on his arm and Harrie was there beside him, grabbing onto his arm. "Harrie..." He lifted her off the ground and into his arms. She clung onto him as tightly as she could as he carried back to the bed once more. "Harrie, stay here." It took a while to untangle her arms off him.

Leaving her on the bed, he went to open the door, stepping out of Harrie's room and exiting the infirmary altogether although when he threw a glance over his shoulder at the door, he saw her peeking out of the window with her little hands pressed against the murky glass, gazing at him sadly. Once he arrived at the hall, numerous soldiers clamoring against each other greeted his vision, grabbing weapons and suiting up; he caught sight of Cain a distance away, barking orders.

"Raiden!" Cain exclaimed, as the cyborg made his way up to him, pushing through the throng of soldiers.

"Cain, what's going on?" Raiden asked, spotting Sasaki a distance away, getting ready with his firearms.

"Cyborgs and a couple of UGs have been sighted nearby. We were going to lay low to avoid detection but Sector Six has just been attacked."

"What?!"

"We're heading over there right now. You're welcome to come with us...if you want."

He didn't have to think twice. "Of course I'll go."

Cain gave him a hefty pat on the shoulder. "You have my thanks, Raiden. I'll mark down Sector Six on your map. Come join us when you're ready."

...

There was one word to describe what Raiden was witnessing and it was: chaos.

He made his way to Sector Six with the rest of the soldiers. He was faster than any of the humans, especially if he commenced a ninja run, but the looming explosions, the sound of bullets being fired and distant screaming meant he needed to assess the situation first. Sam was with him too. For once, Sam was fighting alongside him.

"Nervous, Blondie?" He asked, grinning.

"No." Raiden replied, but he was worried about Harrie. She was left in the infirmary with Bladepuppy but she should be safe where she was.

Raiden unsheathed his HF blade once they entered Sector Six; immediately he was hit with the putrid stench of blood and there was a burst pipe somewhere considering that he was standing in murky, bloodied water that went up to his heels. His foot caught on something and he saw that it was a dead body. He saw many soldiers engaged in battle, getting caught in crossfire, getting torn apart by blades and knives. He saw some soldiers engaged with some Mastiffs further ahead adorned in exoskeleton suits. They seemed to fare a better chance but he still witnessed the gruesome demise of two unlucky soldiers as the massive UGs crushed them, using their massive fists to bash their bodies to a bloody pulp that they resembled meat scraps on a butcher's floor. Amongst the chaos, he'd gotten separated from Cain and Sasaki. Raiden abruptly ducked – a Mastiff had thrown a badly beaten body towards his direction - it didn't even resemble a human, he or she had been completely crushed to death. He stared at the other dead bodies strewn before him, the blood seeping underneath his feet and then glanced up; the UGs and cyborgs had completely overrun the sector and a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel seemed to be their origin.

Glancing around, he saw that Sam was nowhere by his side, either. "Sam?!"

With his HF blade in hand, he rushed forwards; his VR display flicked into light, bathing the world in a cool blue glow. He saw six Mastiffs, three Raptors and four Gekkos prowling the scene, making short work of any soldier that dared to approach them. A cyborg, with a wriggling soldier in hold, sliced him clean apart with its blade before catching sight of Raiden and making its way towards him. Raiden parried the blow that was intended for him and made short work of it by slicing the cyborg into three clean pieces. Another cyborg launched himself at him but he also delivered a few well-timed slashes, causing the cyborg to drop to the ground, defeated. Several Gekkos far ahead stomped around, firing missiles relentlessly and gunning down anyone that dared to approach it. He saw some soldiers taking cover, using their rifles and firing at it excessively albeit with little effect.

His fist clinching, Raiden stormed through the area, deflecting any bullets that came his direction with his blade whilst zipping past cyborgs in his path, cutting them down with swift slashes. Any UG or cyborg that wandered too near the soldiers, he slashed through them without a blink of an eye. He leapt off the ground and landed atop one of the Gekkos, stabbing his blade into the top of the UG. It shook him off violently and as he jumped, he leveled his blade and slashed at it until it crumpled to his feet.

The soldiers, staring wide-eyed at the feat, cheered once the UG crumbled. The victory was not prolonged for another Gekko landed before him, emitting its low battle cry. Raiden flipped backwards to evade the bullets. In order to attract its attention, he dashed away from the soldiers and it followed after him, firing bullets at him mercilessly. He deflected them all and came in for the kill, with his blade attached to his heel, he destroyed it after a combo of ten hits. Two Gekkos were left, blocking his left and right; before he could move, a white blur sprinted past him and suddenly the Gekkos dropped to the ground in a slump.

It was Sam; he landed a distance away from Raiden and lifted his blade, letting it rest over one shoulder. "You're welcome."

"Sam!" He exclaimed with relief.

And behind, a Mastiff approached.

"Look out!" Raiden yelled, and the Brazilian narrowly avoided an attack by cartwheeling to the side. Just as it raised its massive fists to crush him, it suddenly went stumbling backwards, its arms falling to the ground. Blood sprayed everywhere. A soldier suddenly landed behind the Mastiff in a crouch wielding two blades.

It was the woman from before who had slapped Sam, dressed in a black exoskeleton suit. She had a calm disposition despite the massacre surrounding them.

Sam grinned at her and turned to Raiden. "See, I told you she likes me."

Raiden rolled his eyes. It looked like Sam and the mysterious woman had this area covered. Once the Mastiff recovered, Raiden turned to the duo. "I'll leave this one to you."

"Our pleasure." Sam said, before he turned to the woman, "What do you say, _meu querido_? Me and you?"

"Just don't get in my way." She replied. Turning to Raiden, she said, "Cain needs your help."

"Where is he?"

"Just further ahead."

Whilst Raiden left the two to deal with the enemies in this vicinity, he rushed away, avoiding all the bullets and tearing apart any cyborgs in his path. Further up and he saw a soldier struggling with two cyborgs. He made short work of them and the soldier turned to thank him.

It turned out to be none other than Cici, the one who had been antagonistic towards him during the meeting. She seemed stunned, but managed to croak out, "Thank you."

"No problem." He replied.

Leaving Cici to deal with the remaining cyborgs, he proceeded further and witnessed Sasaki cornered by a trio of Raptors; sensing his presence, the three Raptors that had been harassing the blond turned on Raiden, marching towards his direction on their stocky legs. Bursts of crackling energy surrounded the nozzles of their machine guns before they exploded towards his direction; he evaded only for one to lunge at him like a bull with surprising agility and he went sailing to a wall. Grunting, Raiden shook himself free only for its massive leg to slam into his face. He saw stars for a brief moment before recovering a fraction of a second later; it came in again for a second assault – he pulled himself out of the hole with a flip, and the Raptor, having missed its target, became stuck. Trying to free itself, Raiden used this opportunity to attack, slashing it into ribbons. It went down after a series of hits. These UGs had greater endurance compared to the Gekkos, that was for sure. He kept up his assault, battling the remaining two at the same time, avoiding attacks from all corners, keeping his guard up.

Suddenly, a bullet grazed him on his back, bouncing off him, and he turned to see Sasaki with his rifle. "Sorry! I was aiming for the Raptor!"

Raiden said nothing, leaping high into the air to avoid an attack; he stabbed his blade into the head of one Raptor as he landed; the last Raptor immediately began focusing attacks onto the hostage mercilessly and once it had destroyed one of its own, Raiden leapt off, unharmed, grabbing the string of electrolytes to replenish himself by crushing it in his fist before darting towards the final Raptor. It rammed into him, making his blade spin out of his hand and clattering onto the ground somewhere, hidden within the water. Unarmed, Raiden resorted to his fists; he grabbed the Raptor and raised it high above him before throwing it to the ground. The earth shook violently before he lifted it again, high above him once more, throwing the UG to the ground for a second time. He repeated that action again and again until finally, he threw it high into the air. Kicking off from the ground, Raiden finished it off with a powerful punch to its main core, his fist driving through its metal body. He landed in a low crouch a distance away from the body, electrolytes in grasp which he absorbed also.

Once he rose from his position, Sasaki was staring at him from the side, his jaw hanging in mid-air. "T-that was..." Sasaki squawked, "That was amazing! Where did you learn to do that?!"

"...I fought them for a living." He grunted, before locating his blade. He kicked it up using his heel and caught it in his hand. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be – ooooOOOOOooHHHHh, my stomaccchhhhhhh...Not now...oooHHhhh..."

Raiden watched as Sasaki curled up with a wince, his face pasty white. "...You better lay low for a while." He muttered, before dashing off to the next section that needed his assistance.

The Mastiffs were next. Oh what joy. He despised fighting these brutes. He saw a soldier ahead being grabbed and caught in a Mastiff's hold before being repeatedly bashed in the head by the fist. Raiden gritted his teeth with fury and made his way as fast as he could; the UG snapped the neck of the soldier before it threw the motionless corpse to the wall and it tumbled to the floor, face down.

There was a loud scream of "No!" And Raiden glanced over to see Cain, having witnessed the cruel death; he had been keeping them at bay with his machine gun. He rolled to the side to avoid their massive fists, but he was too slow – one was about to crush him - and Raiden threw himself at the UG in the nick of time. He sent it spiraling to the side and once he regained his balance, Raiden stuck his hand out.

"Raiden!" Cain exclaimed, grabbing onto Raiden's hand and allowing the cyborg to pull him up.

"You okay?"

He nodded. "Are you?"

"Yeah."

"Is it just you here?"

Cain fell silent for a brief moment. "...Yes." He muttered, throwing a quick glance to the mangled bodies surrounding them.

The six Mastiffs approached them and he and Cain stood back to back. "There's no way you can fight them all." Raiden said.

"Then it's a good thing you're here, right?"

Raiden's fist clinched. With a furious battlecry, both men went charging forwards. Cain ducked from a Mastiff's swinging fist and began firing, using the slippery ground to slide all the way underneath with his machine gun in hand. The bullets ricocheted off its body but Cain continued his assault. Cain could probably hold only one off on his own; Raiden concentrated defeating as many Mastiffs as he could. Just as a Mastiff came lunging at him, he sidestepped to avoid one fist, ducked again to avoid the other. He counterattacked with his blade, slicing it apart that he saw sparks flying. Strange, usually it would take more hits for one to go down. Perhaps he'd used more brute force than usual. The next Mastiff came at him; he could see its attack so well. Time seemed to have slowed down.

_Hehe...enjoying this...aren't we?_

Pushing the voice away in the back of his mind, Raiden sliced off one arm before delivering a swipe across its gut, the Mastiff falling into two pieces.

_...Doesn't this remind you of the good old days?_

The next Mastiff was the last obstacle; his lips widening into a grin, Raiden clutched his blade tightly in hands and completely swept it off its legs with a massive swing of his blade – the Mastiff went flying – and he brought one leg over its stomach, causing it to drop to the ground. With his sword raised high, he stabbed it into the neck and twisted, roaring with laughter as he kept it pinned under one foot and slowly eased its head off. It was still wriggling despite the decapitation and Raiden finished it off by kicking the body against the wall like a football. It bounced off, blood spraying from all wounds, and he readied his blade, slicing it into little pieces.

_I won't let you have fun without me._

He did his best to push that voice away when he saw more cyborgs emerging and approaching. Five mastiffs, seven Gekkos and four Raptors later, he glanced around for more enemies until the wall above them gave way and whilst Cain rolled to safety, Raiden raised his fists as bricks and debris fell over him. A hulking Metal Gear burst into view, towering over the survivors before unleashing a flurry of tiny missiles into the vicinity that sent half of the hall exploding on fire.

"It's a GRAD!" Cain shouted, diving for one of the metal freight boxes that would shield him. "Take cover!"

A few soldiers, who were too slow to get away from the GRAD's assault, got caught in the explosion, their screams could be heard echoing within the hall. Meanwhile, Sam had to tackle the woman to safety after she became frozen on the spot, stunned by the massive Metal Gear's sudden appearance.

"Holy shit! Holy effing shit! Mother of god!" Sasaki, who had copied Cain's action, could be heard screaming. "What do we do?!"

"Get the rocket launchers!" Cain yelled, flinging his arm in the air madly. "NOW!" Turning to Raiden, he barked out, "Can you distract that thing?!"

Raiden didn't seem to be listening. Instead, he readied his blade; Jack's voice returning: _Now that's more like it._

Cain blinked in shock. "Raiden...?" It was then he noticed that the cyborg's eyes seemed to radiate a red hue. Cain stared as Raiden faced the GRAD head on, dashing towards it with electricity crackling from his feet. It swerved its rail gun at his direction and fired a single missile; he dodged it only for it to follow him – turning on his heel, metal screeching – he raised his blade and sliced it in half before he concentrated on the Metal Gear. The GRAD skidded towards him on its two legs with ferocious speed, ramming at him with its heatblade. He parried it with his blade and it tumbled backwards slightly, unleashing another storm of bullets which he deflected. One bullet stabbed into his forehead and Raiden stumbled backwards, dizzy for a brief moment before he shook his head. Once he had recovered, the grin on his face widened.

Cain watched as Raiden attacked the GRAD tirelessly, evading its sweeping attacks, slamming his sword over and over again even when the GRAD defended itself with its two arm-like panels. Sasaki returned with the rocket launchers but Cain held his arm up. "Wait!"

"What is it?"

"Look."

Both watched the scene with much interest as Raiden battled the UG with vigorous ferocity, slicing and dicing it until it crumbled into pieces. "Whoa, he's glowing!" Sasaki pointed at the red aura surrounding the cyborg.

"Best we stay out of his way for now. Looks like Jack the Ripper's come out to play. Somethin' tells me we needn't worry, nor should we butt in..."

"...Are we going to start relying on him from now on?" Sasaki asked, frowning as he watched Raiden slaughter the remaining cyborgs.

With that, Cain glanced around the scene, staring at all the dead bodies lying on the wet floor. "I...I don't know."

As Raiden beat the Metal Gear into submission, suddenly there was a crackle emitting from the GRAD and then: "_So the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' finally shows himself._" A muffled man's voice could be heard from within the GRAD and suddenly, a panel on its left opened with a 'whoosh'; a familiar cyborg painted in black climbed out of the Metal Gear and stood on top of the head with glaive in hand.

"Tetsuo?!" Raiden snarled.

The flaps of Tetsuo's visor pulled away, revealing his glowing red eyes, "Raiden. I've come to deliver a message from the capital." The cyborg announced.

"What message?"

"That was the only initial assault we have prepared. Well done, Raiden, for defeating the first wave. I assure you there's _more _from where that came from."

"What?" Cain growled, whilst Raiden narrowed his eyes.

"Raiden, we ask that you come with us and I shall call off the attack."

"Come with you?!" Raiden snapped, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm asking you to surrender yourself to us, and in return, we will not harm the humans." Tetsuo sneered, "Understand?"

Raiden seethed, growling at him as he disappeared into the GRAD. The Metal Gear jittered into action, crawling back out of the hole it had created. "Get back here!" He yelled, but the GRAD was far from reach.

Tetsuo's voice could be heard from the GRAD's speaker. "_I'll be back in an hour. I expect an answer_."

The hall went silent and Cain and Sasaki slowly crept out of their hiding places. Turning to Cain, Sasaki said, "...What do we do now, boss?"


	24. Chapter 24

Hi everyone, sorry for lack of update. I've been stalking the Jurassic Park board lol...started another fic. For the love of god i gotta stop starting stories and kinda...ditching them. Unfinished =_= Anyway, thanks for the reviews, sorry I cannot reply to questions raised so far. I'd rather the story unfold instead of me telling you guys stuff all the time.

I'm actually torn about this chapter and for what will happen, and you'll see why. Please see my final note for this chapter at the very end.

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><p><strong>GOODBYE, HARRIE<strong>

After Tetsuo's departure, Raiden watched as the survivors slowly began to gather in the centre of the hall. Sam had a bleeding wound on his arm which was being tended to by the woman he had been fighting alongside with. Cain counted the remaining soldiers and let out a sigh.

"...Alright everyone, let's...let's tidy up." He muttered. "The four of you go check over there for survivors. Sasaki, Sam and Mercedes will check the other side."

"Yes, boss."

Raiden watched as the four survivors went to the far end of the hall and started to gather the dead bodies and pile them up. Sasaki and the woman, now known as 'Mercedes', went to the other side. Sam followed after them, staying close to the woman. Cain turned to Raiden, who glanced at him anxiously. "I'll go." Raiden said.

"...A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It was part of the plan anyway, right?"

"But it's too early. The virus hasn't been developed yet; it isn't fully complete."

"I'll find a way to sabotage and report back."

Cain opened his mouth as if to say something, then went quiet for a few moments. Shaking his head, he finally said, "...Now I ain't sure if I can ask you to do this for us."

"What do you mean?"

The burly man glanced around the hall, at all the bodies the survivors were gathering. "Look around you, son."

Now it was Raiden's turn to grab Cain by the shoulder, shaking him. "Cain! Snap out of it! I said I'll do it, so I will." He said, "Now show me what you have."

...

Raiden followed Cain back to his office where the man took his seat behind his desk and gestured for Raiden to sit opposite him.

"...The prototype we were developing is based off FOXALIVE. I trust you are familiar with this name?" Cain said, and he nodded. The man swept a hand through his unruly brown hair and muttered, "...A long time ago, two brilliant scientists were on their way to the Resistance. Their convoy was ambushed and they were killed by cyborgs."

He remembered where he had heard this before: Harrie's parents.

"If they were still here, their expertise would have contributed to our development of the FOXALVIE prototype. For the time being, Raiden, could we request that you do some espionage, and return to us."

"Harrie could complete the prototype."

"Son, do ya think in her current mental state that she's able to complete it?"

He lowered his gaze to the floor. "I guess not."

"We'll jes have to make do with what we have for now." Cain said, "If you are able to find out as much as you can about the cyborgs, that's mighty fine too."

...

Harrie was sitting on the floor again with Bladepuppy at her side when he entered her room. He closed the door behind him and she turned to him; he was covered in blood and riddled with bullet holes but she seemed happy with his presence.

"Raiden. Are you hurt?" Bladepuppy asked, trotting up to him.

"I'm fine." Squatting down to the UG's level, he gave it a pat on its snout and Bladepuppy cocked its head to the side.

"What happened?"

"The cyborgs attacked." He replied, "And they're demanding that I go with them. I'm going."

"The plan?"

"Yes."

"Then this is...goodbye?"

He gave a brief nod.

"I understand."

"Bladepuppy, stay here and look after Harrie from now on, okay?"

"...Yes, Raiden. Goodbye."

Turning to Harrie, she reached for the cyborgs with her arms outstretched. "Harrie..." He lifted her off the ground in front of him before she lunged for him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He allowed a quiet chuckle to escape his throat as she held onto him tightly.

He was comfortable holding her now. He wasn't quite sure why, but he didn't find the contact unbearable nor was he overcome with a sense of revulsion or the desire to retreat. Instead, he proceeded to hold her closer to him, his arms around her securely. In response, she smiled widely and snuggled against him. He contemplated the fact that despite his body being constructed completely out of metal, Harrie was the only one who didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Harrie," He murmured, "When you activated me, I was angry at the start. I didn't want to wake up because I had lost everything, but if you didn't do what you did... then I wouldn't have met you. We've been through quite a lot together but I don't regret any of it. In fact, you're the reason why I want to keep going on now. I want to protect you as much as I can and I don't want you to live in fear. I want you to live a happy life."

She gave a noise of content and continued rubbing her cheek against him.

There was definitely more to say but he feared he did not possess the bravery to express himself any further. Should he tell her he cared for her, a lot? That he was beginning to feel different around her, that perhaps this new feeling meant he did not see her as simply just a friend any longer? But what would be the result, should he choose to disclose this new profound revelation? What would be the result? How would it work out anyway? It didn't work with Rose, so what would make this any different? Deep inside, he knew. It would not happen. There was no way it could for the result would be the same. It was as simple as that. Throwing his gaze to the floor, he slowly settled her down back onto her feet and she looked up at him, confused. He lifted her arms off him one by one, until he was left holding her hand and he guided her to the bed and had her sit down.

Kneeling in front of her, he muttered, "Goodbye, Harrie."

Letting go of her hand, he made his way to the door of the room and she was staring at her hand blankly; once he opened the door, he heard her rise, the bed creaking, and she trailed after him and he turned to see that she had indeed followed him to the door; again, she looked at him dejectedly, her eyebrows furrowing with confusion.

"No, Harrie. Don't follow me. You can't come." He guided her to the bed again, made her sit down. "Stay here."

When he returned to the door, he heard her rise from the bed once more. Turning round, their eyes met and she made a weak noise, a slightly mournful little wail that made him think twice about his decision. However, she returned to the bed herself on her own this time, obediently seating herself down. When she did not move from her spot, he knew what his final decision was. Raiden opened the door and closed it behind him; he kept his head straight, his gaze focused to his front, unwilling to look at everything he had left behind.

...

A few minutes passed.

Harrie stared at her hands, which he had held, not too long ago. They were still warm from the contact. Bladepuppy was resting beside her, noticing how intently she was gazing at her hands. "Master?"

She did not avert her gaze away; however, she closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Mmph..."

"Master, what is wrong?"

"...Rai..." She uttered quietly under her breath, with much difficulty, "...Rai..._den_."

"Master?"

"...Raiden," She said, re-opening her eyes, "Raiden."

"Master, your memories have returned?"

Abruptly, she sat up in bed, shaking, eyes wide. "Raiden." She repeated, a little sternly now. "_Raiden_!"

Bladepuppy leapt off the bed, watching her rush to the door, hand on the knob. She jerked, only to realize it was locked. Panicked, she thumped her fists on the door. "...O...Open...up." She said, a little unsure, "Open up!"

Bladepuppy was at her side, the light on his snout blinking rapidly. "Master!"

Turning to him, she gestured flimsily to the door. "...Puppy."

The UG opened its jaws apart and fired at the doorknob, the handle dropping off. The door swung open and she slipped out of the room, staring left and right where the corridor branched off. Unsure of where to go, she glanced helplessly at Bladepuppy once more.

"According to Raiden, the assault took place in Sector Six therefore I suspect he will be returning to that area. I will lead the way." The UG began sprinting down to the left and she followed after.

...

The door opened and everyone turned to see Raiden returning. Cain, Sasaki and Sam watched him silently. Raiden appeared different, somehow. Distant?

"...Are you okay?" Cain asked, as the cyborg stopped before them.

"Yes."

"You ready?"

He nodded firmly.

And as if on cue, the ground beneath them shook once more and everyone turned to the hole in the ceiling to see the Metal Gear GRAD returning. The panel of the cockpit opened up and there was Tetsuo, gazing at them expectantly. "Your decision, please." He demanded, "Your time is up."

Everyone exchanged glances, and slowly, Raiden stepped forwards. "If I come with you," He said, "Will you call off the attack and leave them alone?"

"Of course. You have my word, Raiden."

"Then I will come."

"Wise decision." Tetsuo uttered before he hastily disappeared into the GRAD.

Raiden turned to the men before him; Cain handed him a tiny transmitter in the form of a small black device which he handed it to him. "You can communicate with us through this, and I've included a copy of the FOXALIVE prototype with it just in case. Don't lose sight of it. Good luck."

"Thanks, Cain."

"Raiden, do you have to do this?" Sasaki said, and he responded with a nod. "T-take care..."

Turning to Sam, the Brazilian let out a sigh, "Ay, Blondie...I...I...Look after yourself, okay?"

"You too, Sam. Look after Harrie for me."

Sam nodded before slowly reaching out with his hand. Raiden took it and they shook hands firmly. When they let go, Raiden stepped towards the GRAD, leapt up and landed on top of the panel which slid to reveal the cockpit where Tetsuo was waiting.

"You better come back in one piece, Blondie!" Sam was shouting.

"Be careful!" Sasaki yelled.

And suddenly, the door slammed open and a familiar figure came running inside. "Raiden!"

Everyone turned to see Harrie and Bladepuppy, who was leading the way. Before she could reach the GRAD, however, Sam grabbed her, holding her back. "No, chica, it's not safe – "

She struggled against him, squirming in his grasp. Turning to the cyborg atop the GRAD, she yelled, "Raiden!" She was wailing helplessly, trying to wriggle free from his hold on her only for her to crumple to the floor in a heap. Throwing an outstretched arm out to him, she screamed, "...Raiden, don't...don't go!"

Tetsuo glanced at the cyborg who appeared to have stiffened on the spot from Harrie's sudden appearance. "Harrie?"

Before he could question her recovery, she yelled, "Raiden, don't go! You don't have to do this!"

He gazed at her, perplexed, whilst Sasaki and Cain exchanged glances, "What?"

"It's your choice! You do what you want to do. I know you're tired of fighting. You shouldn't be forcing yourself to do anything you don't want to do anymore. I took you from your resting place and I did a very selfish thing and activated you. You never wanted any part in this...I had no right to do any of this to you!"

His fist clinched somewhat. "That's not the point, Harrie."

"Then take me with you!"

"No." He interrupted her without delay. "I won't. You can't come with me."

"But – "

"You can't come with me. I want you to stay here, where you can live with the others, find someone you will spend the rest of your life with – "

Now it was Harrie's turn to do the interrupting, "No! I don't want to spend my life with anyone else!" She exclaimed angrily, frustrated, "Don't you get it? I don't want to spend my life with anyone else except you!"

His eyes widened at her outburst, before his face ultimately grew hot again.

"I know what you're going to say, and you're wrong! It's not what I want! Don't leave me behind!" She was now on the verge of tears as she continued, "It's too cruel, and I won't be able to handle it! I won't move on and find somebody else because there isn't anybody else out there! I don't care if you're cyborg! I want to be selfish and I want to be by your side! I don't care what happens to me as long as I'm with you!"

"Harrie..."

Struggling with her words, she choked out, "Raiden, I l...lo..."

However, as though irritated by the conversation taking place before him, Tetsuo slammed his fist over one random button of the GRAD's control panel and the Metal Gear was moving; Harrie let out a distraught cry in response but Tetsuo paid no heed. "Enough of this drivel. It's time, Raiden."

Raiden could only nod in agreement, "Let's go." Turning to Harrie, their eyes met and she shook her head one last time, desperately, attempting to silently plead her case. He said nothing and turned away from her, slipping inside the cockpit beside Tetsuo...

...and then he was gone.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong>

Ah...

So I wasn't too sure if Harrie should have returned to normal so quickly. But considering the direction I want the story to move on from this point, I think she has to. Explanation-wise, most people don't survive the chip, but when the chip is removed, they are left in a questionable mental state. Sometimes they recover, sometimes they don't. It's 50/50. For Harrie's case, she did get better. Ahhhh this story's end is looming closer and closer and it scares me. Ahhhh!


	25. Chapter 25

**SORRY FOR REPOST 28/06/2015**

**In response to an anonymous reviewer who just reviewed my fic literally seconds ago: **

I have never heard of the fic 'Blue Fairy' until this has been mentioned to me today. I have had a look and it is apparently in the M section and it is very similar to mine. Even Harrie has been copied, and has become 'Ellie'.

If you are not aware, I published this story more than a year ago on February 2 2014.

And Blue Fairy was published on June 17 this year.

I have left a review on the person's fic asking them to remove it completely or change it because it is disrespectful.

If people want to write a MG fic with a premise similar to mine, that is ok, but for goodness sake don't take my OC and rename her as you see fit, don't take my plot and don't write each chapter scenario as scenario as it is in mine.

Many thanks,

Jeralee

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><p><strong>YOU ARE YOUR WORST ENEMY<strong>

Raiden sat beside Tetsuo inside the cockpit of the GRAD. It had been a couple of minutes since they'd left the Resistance and now they were returning to the cyborg capital (wherever that was). Tetsuo was right; a second wave of cyborgs and UGs had been ready for another attack; however, with Raiden's surrender, Tetsuo had called back the cyborgs and UGs and now they were accompanying them back to the capital, with RAYs and REXs and a multitude of cyborgs hovering silently on their left and right.

"Isn't this nice, Raiden." Tetsuo said, in that low and gravely voice of his, as he tampered with the controls of the GRAD's dashboard. "For once, we are not fighting."

"Yeah. It's great." came his sarcastic reply.

"If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask."

"What's gonna happen to me?"

"The lord wants to speak to you, that is all."

This would be the first time he'd heard something like this. "...Lord?"

Tetsuo gave a firm nod in response. "Yes, the lord."

"And who is the lord?"

"You'll see when we get there, Raiden."

"Is he the one responsible for all of this?"

"If you mean the extermination of the human race, yes." Tetsuo muttered, "The lord is most interested in meeting you in person, Raiden."

_Who is this 'lord'?_ Raiden thought. _None of the humans know about this. Cain has never mentioned this to me. Neither has Harrie. This is the unknown. Maybe I should ask Tetsuo some more questions. _"Who are you, Tetsuo?"

"What do you mean, 'who am I'?"

"Have you always been a cyborg?"

Tetsuo took a while to reply but eventually then said, "Yes."

"You don't sound so sure." He said, and Tetsuo turned, gave him a somewhat tired look with narrowed eyes. "I'm not planning anything." He added, "...You haven't always been a cyborg, have you?"

"Whether or not I have always been a cyborg is not important. I am what I am now."

"Don't you remember your past?"

Tetsuo's hand on the gear stilled for a moment. "No." He said; again, after a few moments of hesitation, and Raiden did not believe him.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

"Harrie! Harrie, wait up!"

She stopped running, skidding to a halt on her heels. Turning round, she saw Sasaki standing before her, trying to catch up with his hands on his knees. Panting, he wiped the sweat off his brow and glanced up at her. "What is it? ...Who are you?"

"Don't you remember me?" He said, breathing heavily.

"...I...er..." Tilting her head to the side, she squinted her eyes at him, then she uttered, "...Johnny?"

He nodded. "Yeah!"

Her cheeks went a little pink, "Sorry...It's been a long time. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

"That's okay." The blond replied, grinning widely from ear to ear as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the lab. Cain's there, right?"

"Yeah. Can I come with you?"

"Oh, c'mon then."

"Thanks!" He followed after her eagerly; Harrie didn't seem intent on slowing down at all. "By the way...how come you're better?"

"Better?"

"Yeah, I mean...Ivy got the chip off you...but most people don't recover..."

"I don't know. It's just come back. It all just came back to me."

"Maybe it has something to do with Raiden." He suggested, and her fist clenched.

She growled out, "Grrr, I can't believe he left me behind! Jerk!"

"Whoa!" Sasaki exclaimed, taken aback by her agitation, before he glanced to the side and mumbled, "...Geez...You musta really liked him..."

She heard. Again, her cheeks went red and she did not answer. Once they reached the lab, she pushed open the doors to see Cain inside, speaking to some of the technicians within. At the sight of their presences, everyone ceased their conversation and turned to the newcomers.

"Harrie." Cain said, "What are you – "

"We don't have much time. I need to know about your development on FOXALIVE." She said hurriedly.

Cain glanced at the chief technician – a tall bespectacled man with wild, fluffy brown hair, "I'll let you take the reins for this one."

"Yes, sir." said the chief, as Harrie and Sasaki approached the group. "The FOXALIVE prototype which we've been developing and given to Raiden is an initial prototype. It's not strong enough to shut down Mark two – "

"Mark two?" Harrie said.

"Yes, Mark two. The AI that controls the cyborgs. We heard ya muttering that when you went loopy." Cain replied, "We have a hunch."

"A hunch? Hunches aren't good enough."

"Whoa, back up." Sasaki said, holding his hands up, "You mean...you don't know what '_Mark two_' is?"

Harrie gave him a confused look in response. "...'Mark two'...I...I think those were two words that I saw on Raiden's blueprint which my parents were discussing over...before the cyborgs came."

Cain put a hand to his chin. "Raiden's blueprint? You mean...a picture of Raiden."

She nodded.

Sasaki contemplated for a while, then piped up, "Harrie, why did your parents have a picture of Raiden anyway?"

"Because they knew he was a cyborg who helped humans." She replied, "I saw other words too – there was 'hope'...'future of mankind'...They told me Raiden was very important, and that I should remember him."

There was a silence between the group until –

"But was it really Raiden they were talking about?" Cain said.

Her face went slightly pale. "...What do you...No. _No_. You don't have any evidence. You can't just say that."

"But it could've happened."

"Then, why Raiden? Out of all the people in the world, out of all the cyborgs that existed, why Raiden?"

"Because he was the strongest."

With that, Harrie bit down on her lip. Sasaki threw uneasy glances between the two, clearly confused. "What is it? I don't understand. What are you guys trying to say?" When Cain and Harrie fell silent, he added, "What's going on here?"

Cain sighed weakly. "...Remember when I told you about clones, Sasaki? About _Les Enfants Terribles_?"

* * *

><p>"We're here." Tetsuo announced stoically.<p>

The journey to the alleged cyborg capital didn't take long at all. In fact, only a couple of hours had passed. He had the prototype kept in a safe place and he had switched on the transmitter but it was only emitting a red blinking light. Nothing else. He wondered if he was being tracked, which was most likely. He wondered how Harrie was doing, now that she was better. How did she get better in the first place anyway? He was relieved, of course. At least he had known she had returned to normal before he departed.

Suddenly, the sky went dark and out of a small panel of the GRAD, he stared as an ominous, black citadel loomed into view – upon further inspection, he could see that it seemed to be dilapidated, with crumbling towers and other edifices. Along with the GRAD, a couple of RAYs and other Metal gears could be seen patrolling the premises silently. He could see thunderstorms hidden in the clouds, bathing the sky in purplish, reddish light. He saw the occasional flash of forked lightning, striking random areas in the horizon. He could not see anything else surrounding the citadel but a barren, desolate desert. The wind howled outside, kicking sand in its wake.

_No human could possibly wander through here by accident_, he pondered to himself. _They simply would not survive out here._

Tetsuo steered the GRAD further and the citadel welcomed them along with the other droves of cyborgs and UGs; entering the citadel through the side, it resembled a hangar where other large UGs were stationed side by side, unused.

_This is the capital, _Raiden thought. _This is it._

Tetsuo landed the GRAD on a space and exited through the panel, climbing out and dropped to the ground below; Raiden followed suit – the drop had been high – and he landed on the ground in a crouch, the floor beneath them splitting like a mosaic. Tetsuo inspected the GRAD for a brief moment, grabbed his folded glaive and turned to him. "This way, Raiden."

Raiden followed Tetsuo out of the hangar and inside a long but narrow corridor. The interior was dark, resembling an industrial site. Dried blood and black grease caked the walls and floor. There were large metal fans within the walls, whirring noisily and chucking dust and embers at them from all directions. Barely legible signs that were worn down and covered in grease could also be seen, saying 'Entrance', 'No Trespassing' and 'Staff Only', which made him question the true nature of the citadel and what it once used to be. The cyborg led him further and further, and they would pass several doors along the way.

Most of these doors were closed but he could hear terrible screaming and yelling within along with repetitive noises that one would hear if they were in a scrapyard; metal grinding, scraping, more whirring and slamming. They passed several of these before he finally said, "Tetsuo, what is happening behind these doors?"

"Recycling." The cyborg said simply.

He was surprised Tetsuo had even answered his question. He inwardly contemplated his plan, how he would sabotage and report back. In fact, how was he supposed to sabotage? If cyborgs were taking children and using their brains and nervous systems, then where were the children kept? And what about Mark Two? Was there meant to be a large supercomputer somewhere, a series of network where he would plug in the FOXALIVE prototype and upload it, destroying the capital and all the cyborgs and UGs from within? How come the citadel was nothing like he had imagined then?

"Do you remember the cyborg named Edgar Richmond?" Tetsuo suddenly said.

"Yes."

"He was due to be recycled but Harriet Emmerich reprogrammed him from her cell and they escaped together." Tetsuo said, and again, this took Raiden by surprise. "This was their cell. They are the only known inhabitants to escape from the capital."

_He's treating this place like a museum_, he thought, as Tetsuo stopped at one random door – it was a metal door with barred windows, and Tetsuo gestured for him to look inside. Raiden peered through to see a dark room with a large hole that had been boarded up. Despite the effort, he could feel a cool breeze from within and he could hear the terrible weather outside.

"Raiden, we must continue; the lord awaits."

With a nod, Raiden followed Tetsuo further down the corridor until Tetsuo finally arrived at a door with various symbols on it indicating hazards – from biohazard, toxic hazard to radioactive hazards – and Tetsuo opened the door by pushing on the steel handle to reveal a large hall. Compared to the rest of the citadel, the hall was in better condition. It did not seem to contain any furniture, except from a chair in the middle of the room at the far end and a small table. A throne, most likely.

Tetsuo said, "The lord will be with you shortly. Wait here." Without another word, he shut the door behind him and Raiden was left alone.

He glanced around the room with much suspicion, his eyes narrowing.

It was silent.

He stared at the throne before him and approached slowly. Beside the throne was the table that appeared to have something atop the surface – he could see that it was a book in poor condition: '_Les Enfants Terribles_'. As he cocked his head to the side, he heard footsteps behind him, grabbed the hilt of his HF blade and spun around with the blade in front of him.

A figure stepped into view from the side and stopped at exactly the same spot before him a distance away: he was painted a dark silver color, with white-blond hair and blue eyes. From his lower jaw going downwards, his body was replaced completely with a cyborg body.

Raiden's eyes widened thoroughly.

"Hello, Raiden." said the man, noticing his stunned expression, "It's good that we finally meet."

The blade wavered slightly in his grip as he croaked out, "...This...this can't be."

"What cannot be?" The man questioned as he proceeded to slowly walk up to him on his heeled feet, his heavy steps echoing within the hall.

"Who are you?!" Raiden snarled, his grip renewed – he tightened his hands around the handle of the blade. As he scanned the figure from head to toe, he saw the words 'Mark two' printed on one of the cyborg's metal chestplate.

"Isn't it obvious?" He said, "I am you."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong>

...eeeeeeee I have no idea how you guys will react to this so I put down the following points below:

1. The cyborg capital/citadel's interior and environment is inspired by Hell Descent, a heavily industrialized dungeon in the game _Silent Hill Homecoming_ which contains metal, smoke, fans and fire. It practically represents one descending into hell, death, pain, suffering, punishment and torture.

2. I don't remember much about Les Enfants Terribles. That being said, this is probably a terrible plot too.


	26. Chapter 26

**RAIDEN MARK TWO**

"What the hell?! You're _me_? Cut the bullshit, you're not me!" Raiden fumed, shaking his fist threateningly at the clone before him.

The man, however, merely chuckled at the statement and began pacing the hall languidly. "I was born in 2068." He murmured, "By that time, no-one knew where you were and you were slowly becoming forgotten. That gave them the opportunity and the time to create me."

His jaw went slightly slack, "...What..."

"Do you not find it strange that they know all about Solid Snake and Otacon, but no-one seems to know you, that no-one remembers who you are, except from one girl? One measly little human girl?" questioned Mark Two, "That's because the ones who created me are the ones responsible for the world becoming like this. It was them."

"What do you mean?"

"Harriet Emmerich is the daughter of the scientists who were responsible for my existence. Or at least, they were a part of it."

"WHAT?!"

"You believe you are protecting humans, Raiden? You are protecting the descendants of those who caused this in the first place! And the only living beings on this planet are cyborgs, clones and advanced humans."

His head was swimming. "Advanced humans?"

"Sunny Emmerich's Project. It was to preserve mankind. She kept her DNA to preserve and pass on her intellect in the form of Harriet. Originally the plan was to create advanced humans who would be able to withstand the earth's increasingly inhospitable environment. Surely you've noticed. The land is harsh, the weather is unnatural, there is no sun. There is no water, no animals, no trees. There is no life, Raiden. The earth is dead. No human can survive unless they were genetically altered. Why else do you think the humans live underground like beetles?"

"Why did this happen?!"

"Because they created cyborgs and they kept going. They kept going and going until they used everything they had and destroyed their own planet."

"And what about you? Where do you fit in with all this?"

"They initially wanted to create the perfect soldier, a _child soldier_, to be specific...but not one with flaws, like the ones you have. They didn't want a soldier with Post-Traumatic Disorder or a solider softened by the presence of a wife and kid. They didn't want a soldier who felt guilty when killing people. You were _almost_ perfect, with Jack the Ripper and all... So they wanted another one. Another one just like you, but one on their side and one entirely of their own. And to do that, they copied 'Les Enfants Terribles' using your DNA, Raiden. They took all your records and erased you from history, to keep you as a secret... and from that, I was born."

Raiden growled out, "They? Who's _they_?"

"The humans, who else? Out of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one who inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. That's why I am here, Raiden; that's why we are both here and having this conversation - because of terrible men with terrible plans who wanted to create another soldier like yourself to continue the war, to continue the killing! And look where that got them! Did it ever occur to you that one day, humans would go extinct and it would be entirely their fault? ...That humans would be the reason for their own extinction? They fight and they kill each other, they poison their only world because that is what humans will do; they are a destructive species."

"Are you telling me that you went through the training? The Army of the Devil? All of that?"

"Yes, because at the very end, they made the perfect killing machine. You. To recreate the perfect soldier, I was taught and trained since my birth. I was to surpass you. I had to undergo the same regime as you did, I had to be enlisted into the Army of the Devil. I was taught to kill and I was taught to enjoy it. I inflicted pain unto others and when I was ready, they forcibly detached my body and placed me into an artificial one. My chances of survival were low but I survived. I remember that incident as clear as day. The pain I went through was unimaginable and from that day on, I cursed them, but now I have found it a gift for I am stronger than I could ever be."

"So the same thing that happened to me happened to you."

"And after that, I killed them."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to."

"But after you killed them, you didn't stop there."

"Why should I? I was just getting started. I took over the rest of the cyborgs and the UGs and turned them against their creators too. Just like how I did to my own."

"And then you decided to take over completely?"

"At first, I envisioned a perfect world, but I soon discovered there is no such thing as a perfect world. It will not be perfect unless I kill because that's all I've ever known, so I killed and I killed and I killed. And afterwards, I grew tired but there are simply far too many people in the world. To keep them in order, I have it so that they are now hunted, where they are starving and dying. Ironic, isn't it? I've done what you've been too scared to do, Raiden."

"You're not me." Raiden said, pointing his sword at the clone. "I would never have wanted this. You're nothing but a shadow! A clone. A shell!"

Raiden-II threw his head back, laughing. "I am very much real, Raiden, and I'll prove it to you. I'll prove that I'm better than you."

Raiden frowned, renewing his grip on the handle of his blade. Both cyborgs positioned their swords in front of each other and he noticed straight away that it was in a manner similar to his. For a few seconds, no-one moved. It was still. There was not a sound, the atmosphere and heavy and thick with tension. However, Raiden-II went charging towards him first and Raiden followed suit; once they were within distance of each other and their blades clashed - they went face to face, foreheads almost touching. The clone looked exactly like him that it unsettled him deeply, from his hair, the nose, the eyes. Swinging their blades, they both lashed out at each other again and again, sparks flying as their blades collided again and again violently.

_What the hell_, Raiden thought as they continued their battle, _He's using my moves!_

As though reading his mind, Raiden-II countered every of his movements and attacks, mirroring him perfectly. The fight didn't seem to be getting anywhere considering they were anticipating each other's attacks at the same time. They sprang back, both returning to their stances at the same time; their heels squeaked, their bodies turned in unison, and Raiden and Raiden-II held their blades in front of themselves, sword tip pointing down.

"Stop copying me!" Both yelled out simultaneously.

"You're not me!" Again, at the same time.

Raiden growled whilst the clone smirked.

"How can you know all my techniques!?" They shouted - once more, in unison.

"Why wouldn't I know your techniques?" Raiden-II said, "As I said before, I am you."

Snarling, Raiden abandoned his stance and charged at him, dragging his blade behind him.

This time, Raiden-II merely remained rooted in his spot and as Raiden neared, he uttered, "...But of course, I am _better_."

Before he knew it, he saw Raiden-II leveling his blade in front of him and then Raiden's arm abruptly flew off at the joint, severed in a matter of seconds. He had barely enough time to register what had happened. How had he not had anticipated this? How could he have allowed himself at a disadvantage? It was too late - Raiden-II was slashing at him like ribbons in numerous horizontal and vertical swipes before his fist rammed through his chest, pulling out a pair of electrolytes. Raiden yelled, coughing out blood.

Raiden-II retreated his fist, covered in white blood as he held a group of glowing blue spheres in his fist before crushing them into a pulp, and Raiden abruptly collapsed to the floor in pieces.

_What...just happened...?_

His visuals went crazy, his view a blurry haze like white noise. His hearing became distorted but he could still feel fingers twitching; turning his head to the side weakly, he raised one arm and squinted his eyes, and mustering his remaining strength, he could make out his other arm a distance away, leaking white blood from the joint. His legs were somewhere, his lower torso chopped up into pieces near Raiden-II's feet. He'd been bisected at the waist and cut into pieces. A shadow fell upon him and he saw Raiden-II approach. "...W...what..." He managed to croak out, "...what..."

"Zandatsu." Raiden-II murmured, "Now you know how it feels."

Raiden grunted, emitting strangled, choking noises as Raiden-II stepped away and to the door, opening it to reveal Tetsuo who had been waiting patiently the entire time. "Is it done, my lord?"

"Yes, it is." said Raiden-II, "Take him to be recycled."

"Yes, my lord."

Heavy footsteps entered the room and Raiden found himself being lifted up, his torso thrown over Tetsuo's shoulder. He could not fight back or move; his vision went upside down and he saw a puddle of blood beginning to spill underneath him. Blood escaped his lips, dribbling over his nose, his cheeks and eyes and dripping off his forehead, staining the floor. Tetsuo collected the rest of his pieces as instructed, bundled them into his arms and was heading out of the room. Raiden weakly lifted his head, watching Raiden-II reclaim his throne.

"Sleep, Raiden..." said the clone, "You've earned your reward. One of eternal rest..."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

**RESISTANCE WATCHTOWER 3**

_BLIP._

Startled by the noise, Sasaki sprang up in his seat, alarmed. "What was that?" Staring wide-eyed at the screen, he saw the rotating dial outline several shapes, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Beside him, Cain shifted off his seat to stand up, "Cyborgs."

Sasaki blurted out, "What does this mean? I thought we were gonna be okay - "

"No. They're coming back, and Raiden is not here." He hurried out of the room, with Sasaki staring helplessly at him. "Sound the alarm! Call the evacuation! I'll gather the others!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Sasaki exclaimed with a quick salute; he spun round in his swivel chair and grabbed the communicator, "Code – er..."

"It's Code Red, Sasaki!"

"R-right boss..." With communicator in hand, he yelled, "Code Red! I repeat, we have a Code Red!"

...

Harrie was woken up by her door slamming open and fumbling footsteps entering her room. Although she hadn't really been able to sleep at all, she felt as though she had been in a haze, a state between sleep and consciousness, and she opened her eyes to see Ivy before her.

"Harrie, we need to go!" The doctor yelled, grabbing her by the wrist and helping her off the bed. Bladepuppy sprang off the mattress, shaking himself.

"Ivy, what's going on?" Harrie asked, confused.

"We need to leave; it's a code red - complete evacuation of the premises!"

"Evacuation? Where to?"

"To the Escape RAYs."

"Escape RAYs?"

"Yes, they will take us to safety, away from here."

"Why?"

"The cyborgs have come back."

"What?!"

"I've no time to explain!" Ivy shouted, and they made a frantic run for the door when the ground and walls shook, throwing both off balance. Distant screaming could be heard somewhere nearby. "They're can't be here already," Ivy breathed out in disbelief, "Harrie, you need to go."

"What about you?"

"I'm staying behind to assist in the evacuation."

"How long will it take?"

"...Fifteen minutes, twenty. Maybe more."

"We don't have enough time. The cyborgs will be here in seconds. Where are the fighters? I'll go help."

She shook her head, "Harrie, you can't!"

"I can help!" Harrie exclaimed. Turning to Bladepuppy, she said, "C'mon, let's go!"

"Yes, Master." The UG acknowledged. With that, Harrie and Bladepuppy made their way down the corridor and towards the fighter's base, despite Ivy's desperate pleads.

...

When Harrie arrived at the fighter's base, she wasn't surprised to find it empty and devoid of resistance members. Cain and the others must have gone to anticipate the impending cyborg attack. Bladepuppy sniffed the ground and said, "My sensors indicate that they've headed to Sector Three."

"They've taken all the weapons." Harrie muttered, gesturing to the empty artillery racks.

"What should we do, Master?"

"Cain's bound to have UGs stored somewhere. They mentioned Escape RAYs." She muttered, "Bladepuppy, use your map and take me to the mechanic's faction, or-or someplace where they keep all their equipment."

"Yes, Master." Bladepuppy said, "Follow me."

She followed the UG all the way out of the fighter's base and down some lengthy tunnels, trying not to trip up as the ground continued to quake beneath her and she heard more explosions accompanied with muffled gunfire up ahead. "This is bad," She muttered, "Are we there yet?"

"Almost."

Bladepuppy led her down a long tunnel and finally they arrived at a large opening where the bridge appeared to have broken in half considering the caved ceiling and the amount of rocks and debris below. Large flumes could be seen in this circular-shaped clearing but they were empty and full of mold. Glancing down, Harrie could see that they were fairly high up and it was darkness below, although when she moved her foot against a rock and watched it tumbling down, she heard a loud splash of water following.

"What is this place anyway, Puppy?"

"It appears to be an underground facility – my hypothesis is that this used to be a subway network, or sewer system." The UG said, and she nodded. Both options were not very appealing. Harrie swallowed as she glanced at the bridge a distance away before them; how would they reach it? The gap was so huge. Bladepuppy added, "Master. I will get you safely across. However, I must first go over and test its foundation."

"No, wait, Puppy, it might not be safe!"

"That is a risk I must take. Raiden has taught me this."

Immediately, she threw her glance to the floor sullenly as she contemplated the missing cyborg, and Puppy took a few steps backwards, readying himself and sprinted, kicking off using his hind legs and leaping into the air. He landed atop the other end of the bridge albeit yelping somewhat as he landed at the edge, scrambling to get up.

"Puppy!" Harrie screamed; she couldn't bear to witness but she forced herself to watch as Puppy finally managed to climb up, safe. "Phew..."

"It is safe, Master." Bladepuppy said, testing out the bridge's and its sturdiness by stomping on the bridge a few times with his strength. Glancing at Harrie, he extended his tail, the thick metal coil lengthening and reaching her and wrapping around her waist. She grabbed on with both hands and nodded once she was secure. Puppy lifted her effortlessly and she tried not to look below; when he had deposited her safely back onto her feet, his tail retracted to its normal, short length.

"Good boy." She said, a little breathlessly as he wagged his tail.

"Directive complete."

"Let's go."

The journey continued, and eventually they arrived at a large, abandoned hangar that was completely encased in darkness. Bladepuppy's red light guided them the entire way as he extended its parameters. She didn't realize it, but the UG was certainly handy to have around. He was full of all sorts of tricks. She could now see one lone but broken down RAY standing silently in one corner. It was not alone for it was accompanied with four more RAYs, also apparently handicapped in various ways. There also appeared to be a small number of Gekkos and Raptors scattered around various areas of the hangar too.

"What is the plan, Master?" Bladepuppy asked, as Harrie rushed up to one of the RAYs, blew the dust off of one leg to reveal a control panel.

She pried it open after a brief struggle, inspecting the controls. "It doesn't look too bad, but they gave up on this one. I don't blame them, it is in terrible shape."

"You are thinking of fixing them?"

"Yeah. We need more fire power."

"How long will it take?"

"Hopefully not too long if I'm quick enough." Glancing around, she saw a mechanic's bench a distance away with a set of dusty-looking equipment. "Puppy, grab that bag of tools over there for me and bring them over."

"Yes, Master." And he scurried over to collect the items.

Once he had done so, dragging the bag to her side using his jaws, she grabbed him, lifted him off the ground and settled him atop the surface of a counter nearby and began rifling through the bag of tools before turning to him with a welder in hand and a drill.

"Master?" He said, the red light on his snout flashing brightly, "What is the meaning of this?"

She linked the drill to his power source, switched it on, and the drill began whirring loudly. "This won't take long. Bladepuppy, if you're going to help us get through this, it's time for an upgrade. I'm gonna need you to be bigger and deadlier."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong>

Yep, so Raiden got Zandatsu-ed in this chapter :(

In order to help people understand this story, I have been a good sport and included a timeline:

**2018:** Raiden finishes his mission with Desperado and moves onto World Marshal. Rose is about 28-30 years old. Sunny is about 12-13 years old(?)

**2028:** Rose turns 38 years old. Raiden has not aged and has spent 10 years tracking down World Marshal. John is about 10-15 years old. Between 2018-2028, Sunny begins preserving her DNA and during this time, her DNA gets stolen. Raiden undergoes a mission to retrieve this. He continues helping Sunny for a while but eventually leaves his family so they can move on without him.

**2038:** Rose is 48 years old. John is about 25. Raiden lives a solitary life as a PMC-contractor, hunting down World Marshal and other rogue PMCs.

**2048:** Rose is 58 years old

**2058:** Rose is 68 years old

**2068:** Rose is 78 years old. Unknown to Raiden, Raiden Mark-II is created by scientists who attempt to create a powerful cyborg ninja using the Les Enfant Terribles method in order to recreate a war economy. Therefore it is safe to assume that Raiden had his DNA stolen sometime before this unknown to himself.

**2078:** Rose is 88 years old. Raiden finishes off his final mission and comes to see her when she is on her deathbed (Chapter 20: Time). He has not seen her for 50 years; she has moved on and had children with another man and now has grandchildren. After Rose passes away, Raiden returns to the lab in Denver and asks to be deactivated by the scientists working there. Sunny is roughly 60 years old.

**2078-2099:** A cyborg revolt begins in between this time and society begins to collapse. In between a span of 21 years, Raiden Mark-II has managed to take over half of the earth without making his presence known. Sometime in between, to combat the cyborg threat, a Sam clone is created and cryogenically frozen. A Government Project begins to clone certain individuals in order to combat cyborgs and to preserve humanity and enable them to face the increasing harsher climate of earth due to mass production and depletion of resources. Sunny's lab becomes under attack in 2090.

**2127:** An advanced human is born to a pair of scientists who were given the part of Sunny's project. They name her Harriet Emmerich, after Sunny. From 2078-2127, 49 years have passed and Raiden Mark-II has taken over most of the earth. Humans are rapidly decreasing in number and have become nomadic and resources are in short supply. Some clones have defected whilst others are scattered around earth and left to wake up on their own, unguided.

**2132:** Harrie is 5-6 years old, her creators (or parents) who were aware of Raiden Mark-II's existence are killed by Raiden Mark-II's cyborgs and only Harrie is spared because she is a child; she is captured by the cyborgs where she witnessed children being harvested. She meets Richmond in prison who was due to be recycled and escapes with him. They arrive at the Resistance where they are turned away because of Richmond's status and identity as a cyborg.

**2148:** A total of 130 years have passed since 2018, 70 years since Raiden's deactivation. Harrie finds a deactivated Raiden in Maverick Denver Laboratories (beginning of story).

FURTHER NOTES...

**Raiden-II**

The leader of the cyborgs and UGs is revealed to be a cloned version of Raiden who was cloned by an unknown PMC after the real Raiden went off the radar. The project was a secret copycat, hybrid experiment of 'Les Enfants Terribles' and 'Army of the Devil'. As the military demanded his services, Rose had his DNA extracted secretly by Doktor to create a memory bank against and unknown to Raiden's knowledge. However, the DNA was also leaked to enemy PMCs and out of several failed experiments, a duplicate was successfully born. However, in order to mold him into an effective soldier, they subjected him to the same treatment Raiden received when he was a child, which effectively twisted him but made him darker and much, much worse. Because this was what humans did to him, he became full of hate and anger and was fueled by killing. Once forcibly converted to his cyborg body, he decided to destroy his makers, destroy all humans and embraced his cybernetic enhancements. He began to amass forces and began to take over the world, brainwashing all cyborgs to do his bidding and taking over UGs. Aware that he is modeled after the original Raiden, he ordered a search which was to locate the original Raiden and to destroy him. Unfortunately for his case, he was one step slower than Harrie who excavated him from the ruins of Maverick industries. He fully embraces his life as a cyborg and shuns all his humanity.

**The Elders**

Cain stated they were the humans born before them and who were alive during the actual revolt. Originally I wrote that the Elders are in fact, the ones who were aware of the Raiden Mark-II's existence but kept it a secret, knowing that they were responsible for humanity's downfall but instead pinned the blame simply on UGs and cyborgs. _The Elders_ include Harrie's parents, who were aware of Raiden Mark-II and were discussing ways on how to defeat him until they were killed.

**Sunny and Harriet Emmerich (relationship)**

No surprises here I suppose; Harrie is an advanced human born from Sunny's project to create or genetically alter humans to turn them into 'advanced humans' who would survive the earth's hostile environment. Although they are called 'advanced human' there is nothing really advanced about her but Harrie seems to fare better than the others considering she lived above ground unlike the Resistance who live completely underground.

Again, apologies I cannot answer everyone's questions but I hope this helps.


	27. Chapter 27

Hi everyone, we are nearing the end of Heroes. Omg it's hard to believe it is almost finished! thanks for the reviews and continued support.

* * *

><p><strong>THE BATTLE FOR HUMANITY<strong>

Tetsuo arrived at the recycling chamber with a handful of Raiden's body parts bundled up in his arms. The 'recycling chamber' was essentially a blacksmith's forge manned by an old and lone cyborg who seemed to enjoy taking apart cyborgs and UGs and either rebuilding them or incinerating them into nothingness.

The cyborg manning the furnace turned away from the control panel to the cyborg. "Hmm? That looks a lot like..."

"It is." Tetsuo confirmed, "He is to be recycled."

"That's a darn shame." said the cyborg, "...I'd like to research him a bit longer if I was allowed it."

"He is to be recycled immediately. That is your order. Where do I put him?"

The cyborg rubbed at his chin, glancing at the numerous steel carts on the conveyor belt that were heading towards the direction of the incinerator, all filled to the brim with various old cyborg parts. "Put him in one of those." He muttered.

Tetsuo nodded and dumped Raiden inside carelessly. "See to it that he is destroyed." He barked, jabbing a finger at him.

"Where are you going?" asked the old cyborg as Tetsuo turned to leave.

"I have orders; destroy the rest of the humans. He will be joining us this time, now that nothing stands in our way." He muttered. The old cyborg glanced at the door as Tetsuo slammed it closed behind him, then went to the cart again and hastily fished out Raiden's parts, taking note that the cyborg's head was still intact and still had a bit of his torso and one arm that was also intact.

"...A shame, really." He uttered under his breath. He gathered the rest of the pieces and turned to a worktop bench a distance away where Dwarf Gekkos with missing limbs lay. With a hum under his breath, he carefully laid out the pieces over the surface.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

Deep within the tunnels of Sector two, Cain was struggling to keep the cyborgs at bay using the makeshift barricade they'd put up that would prevent further enemies from invading. However, violent thuds and rapid gunfire could be heard from the other side of the wall, indicating the cyborg's insistence to reach them and that the barricade was slowly being apart torn piece by piece. His soldiers were at their stations anxiously, firing at enemies through small gaps with their rifles or tossing grenades outside.

They just kept coming and coming, wave after wave. One after the other, the numerous sectors were being stormed and taken over by cyborgs. Sector six had already been destroyed, so had sectors seven, five and four. That only left three remaining; the main sector where the infirmary and most of the civilians were stationed. Ammo was on low supply. They would not keep this up at all and with the remainder of the troops (which was dwindling in numbers by the passing minute), he wondered how long they would be able to hold it up.

"Cain!" Sasaki yelped, stumbling up to him having abandoned his station, "Cain, what do we do? The barricade won't hold any longer! We should use this time whilst the barricade's still up to leave -"

"No, I can't leave, not yet! We need to make sure everyone has left the base safely!" He grabbed the boy's shoulders firmly. "Sasaki, ever since your pa passed away, I took it upon myself to look after you. There has not been one moment where I feared for life. I give you permission to leave."

Sasaki's eyes widened. "But, boss – "

A loud explosion caused everyone to lose their footing and the barricade shuddered violently. "What the hell was that?!" Cain yelled, and Sasaki rushed over to peer through one small gap.

"It was a rocket launcher, boss! Looks like a battle mech piloted by a cyborg. He's reloading!"

"Shit, let's hurry and take that bastard out, NOW!"

"Yes, boss!" yelled his soldiers, and Cain watched as they scurried off to grab their rocket launchers, Sasaki dropped to his knees, propping his rocket launcher upright over his shoulder with the lens glass over his eye, whilst another soldier helped him load it up. "Ready?" Sasaki said.

"Ready!"

Sasaki squeezed the trigger and he remained rooted to the ground despite the recoil; the rocket launcher collided with the battle mech and exploded upon impact, fire and debris flying in all sorts of directions. A few soldiers whooped at the victory but Cain was far from feeling relieved and as predicted, another violent impact assaulted the barricaded from incoming enemy fire and they were back to business. Out of the emerging explosion, dozens of cyborgs could be seen bursting into view, stampeding towards their direction and firing excessively. Everyone ducked for cover but a few bullets penetrated the wall, and a couple of men dropped to the ground with agonized yells.

Cain slowly rose from his spot. "Ready, aim and FIRE!" He yelled, waving his arm in a downward motion. "Let's kill these sons of bitches!"

"Yes, boss!" echoed the troops, and they proceeded to fire at the incoming enemies.

It wasn't enough; the barricade was beginning to fail – the cyborgs who were still standing had managed to finally reach the barricade and were beginning to throw themselves against it. Some soldiers yelped, abandoning their positions but Cain rushed forwards, throwing his back against it.

"Keep it steady!" He shouted, and he was joined by Sasaki who was doing all his best to prevent the cyborgs from coming in. Bullets whizzed past them, one slamming into Cain's side. "Ungh!" He croaked out.

"Boss!" Sasaki exclaimed, but Cain shook his head.

"No matter what, we must keep the barricade up – " He was cut off when the barricade was finally torn apart, and cyborgs and UGs completely spilled through. He squeezed his eyes shut as he collapsed to the floor with the barricade over his back, cyborgs trampling over him; he instinctively curled up to protect himself. This was it. This was surely it. Around him, he could hear more gunfire and screaming.

"Boss!" Sasaki could be heard yelling. "Where are you?!"

"Johnny!" He roared, glancing around blindly amongst the chaos. It had been a long time since he'd used the kid's first name.

There were too many things going on; he couldn't pinpoint the blond. He could only see his soldiers being battered and beaten by the cyborgs; they were completely overrun.

"Boss, where are you?!"

He looked up to see Sasaki searching for him whilst avoiding cyborgs, ducking from bullets and firing at them with his rifle looped around himself. _Stupid kid_, he thought to himself, as Sasaki finally located him and rushed to his side; he tried to pull Cain from the rubble only to realize his leg was completely crushed underneath the barricade. "Don't mind me. You need to fall back. Take the rest of the men and go!"

"I won't leave you, boss!"

"Stupid kid!" Cain roared angrily, throwing his massive fists at him, "Just gimme a coupla guns and I'll be fine!"

But Sasaki was shaking his head, "I won't leave you behind!"

Cain opened his mouth, to yell and to scream, but from behind he spotted an approaching Metal Gear Grad readying its missile at their direction. "Behind you!"

Sasaki turned just in time - and suddenly, a large quadruped UG swooped overhead and landed amongst the foray, pouncing on and crushing the Grad underneath its weight before it could fire, snapping its jaws at nearby cyborgs and flinging them away before using its claws to swipe and lash viciously, sending all sorts of cyborgs and UGs flying into all different directions. Sasaki didn't know what kind of UG it was since he had never seen anything like it before but resembled a larger version of Bladepuppy and it was not alone - Sasaki glanced over his shoulder to see several large UGs and RAYs zooming towards them, hovering in the air; they approached from deeper within the recess of the tunnel and he recognized them to be the ones from the hangar which the technicians and mechanics had deemed beyond repair. Stunned beyond belief, his eyes widened when he saw none other than Harrie seated within the cockpit of the large UG.

He watched as the RAYs and other large UGs ranging from REXs to Grads then scoured the rest of the area, flying silently overhead whilst firing at enemies before they landed to form a solitary line in front of the humans, gunning down any cyborgs who dared to venture even further. He couldn't believe his eyes; Harrie must have repaired them in time and now he knew that no mechanic or technician within their ranks could truly match up to her intellect. Any cyborgs remaining who had been separated from the main army and the survivors took them out as quickly and swiftly as possible. Sasaki and Cain sat slumped amongst rubble, defeated cyborgs and UGs in stunned silence.

"Are you alright?"

They heard footsteps approaching; Harrie had climbed out of the large UG who lowered itself to the ground for her. "Puppy, don't let any cyborgs near, alright? Destroy them all and save any human you see." She instructed, and the large UG nodded before sprinting back into the battlefield, knocking away more cyborgs from its path.

"_Affirmative_." Its voice was echoed from the other RAYs and UGs, indicating that its AI was linked to the other Metal Gears which were helping them.

"Is that Bladepuppy?"

She nodded.

"What did you do to him?"

"Just made him bigger."

"Can you help me out?" And Sasaki waved her over, grabbing hold of one of Cain's arms whilst Harrie grabbed the other.

Together, they attempted to hoist him out of the rubble and debris. "Arhghhh!" Cain yelled, squeezing his eyes shut in agony as they pulled. Once they managed to get him out, they could see that his right leg was completely soaked in blood. The two helped him stand but he was limping, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Nah...it's no good." Cain muttered, "My leg's useless. I'll jes get in your way. You two should leave, go with the evacuees - "

"We're not leaving without you, boss!" Sasaki yelled, and he winced somewhat.

"What's the situation?" She asked.

"The evacuation is still going underway. We need to buy more time." Sasaki said, a little miserably.

"Which means we need to stay and fight as much as we can." Harrie replied.

"First, we need to get him to safety." Sasaki added. Nodding, she helped him guide Cain over to one side, shielding him using the large freight boxes that were sturdy enough to withstand gunfire and missiles. As she began to tend to Cain's mangled leg, Sasaki uttered, "It was a mistake to let Raiden go with them. They didn't hold up their end of their bargain after all."

Harrie watched him worriedly. "...Sasaki?"

His fist clinched, trembling violently, and he angrily roared out, "Damn cyborgs! I'll kill them all!" He grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll destroy them all one by one!" Sasaki was seething, blind with rage. She tried to stop him, but he rushed away from them with his gun at the ready.

"Kid, come back!" Cain was yelling, but his words landed on deaf ears. "We need a plan, damnit!"

Sasaki rushed back to the combat zone but came to an abrupt stop when a cyborg locked in battle ahead spotted him a distance away. He recognized it be the one known as 'Tetsuo'. With a fierce roar, Sasaki pulled the trigger, firing at him. There was a glint in Tetsuo's eyes and in a split second, he vanished from sight, darting to the left. Sasaki hissed and followed, firing his rifle until it went empty. Tetsuo reappeared to his right and he went stumbling to the ground in a panic; before he could land a blow on him, Sasaki squeezed his eyes shut but the impact never came for there was the sound of metal clashing and he looked up to see Sam, having blocked the attack with his red blade.

Throwing his glance over his shoulder, Sam growled out, "Ay, you really are a stupid kid..."

"Sam?" Sasaki spluttered; he was helped up by Mercedes who was at his side.

Sam turned to Tetsuo with a grin. "Me and you. Let's dance."

"Jetstream Sam." Tetsuo said with a frown, "By all means, let's."

Meanwhile, Harrie watched as Sam and Tetsuo began their own fight before glancing around to find Bladepuppy a distance away. She had transferred his AI into a larger UG body and also linked him to the RAYs and other UGs available. Turning to Cain, she said, "What's the plan, Cain?"

He glanced around the battlefield, then turned to her. "...Would it be strange if I ask you to go find Raiden? Somethin' musta happened to 'im."

"But I wouldn't know where he – " She paused in mid-sentence, "No, wait, I can find out! All I need is an UG. One of theirs. I could try and get their co-ordinates to retrace or-or locate their source...but it might take too long."

"...That's the risk I'm willing to take."

"I'll leave Bladepuppy and the rest of the UGs here. They stand a better chance and they won't run out of ammo for a long, long time."

Cain gave her a brief nod. "You have my thanks, Harrie." He grunted, reloading his gun with a few clips.

With a nod, she turned and yelled, "Puppy!" And the UG returned to her side; she climbed on using the foothold and slipping into the cockpit. "Assign one of the UGs to protect this side of the tunnel. Let's find ourselves an UG."

"Will that suffice?" Bladepuppy asked, as an enemy RAY flew into view, landing on the ground on its two bulky hind legs and emitting a mechanized roar.

"Isn't that a bit ambitious?"

"It's great size and flight power means you might be able to go to the capital in mere minutes; considering how quickly the cyborgs arrived, the capital must not be far after all."

"Fair point." She said, "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>"Jack, wake up!"<p>

His eyes sprang open. Panting, Raiden scanned his surroundings only to find himself within the data bank, except it was slightly different from the last time he had been in. Before him, Rose stood and breathed a sigh of relief once he jerked awake. "Rose!" He exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Where's Harrie?"

Rose glanced around herself, lowering her gaze to the little boy by her side who was clutching onto her hand tightly; Raiden hadn't even noticed. Stunned by their appearances, Raiden took a step back instinctively, glancing from Rose, to Little John.

"John..." He murmured.

"Hi dad." mumbled the little boy.

Rose said, "We came to see you."

"Am I...dead?"

"No."

"But I was - I got..."

"It's not the end, Jack. You and I both know that."

Raiden and John leveled gazes with one another but Raiden quickly aborted eye contact; it was funny to see his son the way how Raiden had remembered him the most by – when he was young and small – when Raiden could pick him up and carry him, when they would play ball together, when he would tuck him in bed and tell him of his missions (child-friendly versions, of course. He'd omit all the killings and blood). As John grew up, he didn't quite remember doing any of the sort. Instead, John grew up and they grew further apart. Was it strange he hadn't seen John in the data bank until now?

"Dad?"

Slowly, Raiden returned his gaze and moved to kneel down in front of his son. "John. Can you ever forgive me?"

He didn't have to say it. He was a lousy father. He left them when John was in his late teens. He vanished from their lives. He couldn't even fathom to think about the amount of resentment they harbored for him.

In response, Little John looked up at Rose, who in turn, nodded briefly. Turning to Raiden, he said, "Yes."

"There was not a single day where I stopped thinking about you both." He murmured, "I kept telling myself to go back, but if I did...I would've ruined your lives even more...as if I hadn't done enough to you both already."

John shook his head. "You're wrong, dad."

Raiden slowly reached over and held his hand, then reached for Rose and took her hand also. Rising to stand, they stood together in a little circle; he closed his eyes, relishing the moment, even if it was merely an illusion. It had been a long time since something like this happened, could happen. Rose leaned closer towards him, "There's someone who needs you more than we do." She said, "You must go, Jack."

"...Will you be alright?"

"Of course." Rose replied, smiling reassuringly to him, "We will always be alright."

Nodding, he embraced his wife lovingly and turned to John, picking him up his arms and hugging him tightly also. "Will I see you again?"

However, Rose merely smiled, placed a hand over his cheek whilst Little John squeezed his hand. Nodding, Rose and John let go of him and began to walk away. Raiden watched their retreating backs; they would turn and look at him from over their shoulders.

He did not have the urge to follow them.

...

Raiden would wake up to find himself lying on top of a surface with a light shining into his face; he was not alone, surrounded with what appeared to be Dwarf Gekkos albeit with missing limbs or faulty parts. Glancing up and around, he saw a high ceiling above him and he could hear the repetitive metallic noise of grinding and screeching of some sort. Recycling, he remembered. They had taken him to be recycled. The atmosphere was steamy, hot and muggy, and he could see the occasional orangey-yellow flicker of flames in the atmosphere, molten hot lava poured from stone tunnels built within the walls and flowed to an unseen area below.

He pushed himself up with his one arm and activated his visor with his remaining power. He only had twelve per cent remaining, and it was trickling down by the minute.

_What do I do?_

Fumbling, he sat up, brushing away Dwarf Gekko limbs and bodies. He found one that was twitching and emitting shrill noises, crackling with electricity.

_This one's still got a bit of power._

Glancing over, he could see a conveyor belt attached to the ground that ran on steel rungs, like the tracks one would see on a tank. They were headed towards a large furnace; at least five carts in total. He could see one cart entering the furnace and the contents being tipped out, cyborg and UGs part dropping out and disappearing somewhere down below. The cart would do a u-turn, passing another and returning to the beginning of the queue where more cyborg parts emptied into it from a funnel protruding from the ceiling. He didn't want to find out the destination. To the side, he could see several counters with a dashboard that seemed to be responsible for controlling the furnace. A cyborg could be seen standing with his back to him, muttering to himself as he worked and slaved.

Raiden grabbed the Dwarf Gekko that was still moving, keeping it close to him before grappling at his neck to find a cable. Funnily enough, the entire time since he had been reactivated, Harrie had left his cable alone but she must have ensured it was still working. He pulled it out from his neck, the long winding cord stretching out of him like the twisted cord out of a toy and he planted it firmly into the Gekko's corresponding joint. The Gekko stopped wriggling and went still, now under his direct command.

"Go." He said weakly, and the Gekko rolled off the table and landed gently on the ground, standing upright using its two limbs.

It took a while but he maneuvered it to approach the cyborg slowly from behind as quietly as possible before springing onto its shoulders and delivering a weak but nasty electric current. "Urgh!" The cyborg could be heard grunting before dropping to the floor, out cold. The Gekko glanced at Raiden's direction for a while.

His vision was growing hazy, his power decreasing rapidly to 8%. "Shit," he cursed, and the Gekko returned to his side, grabbing onto his arm with its limb. It pulled him out off the table, struggling slightly, and he dropped onto the ground, exhausted and in a puddle of his white blood.

The enemy cyborg lay before him, unconscious but due to wake up sometime soon if he did not act quickly enough. With the Dwarf Gekko beside him, he had it drag him over to the control panel.

_Almost there..._

He checked his remaining power: 5%

_I won't make it._

Raiden prodded at his chest and pulled out the device that contained the FOXALIVE prototype which had been safely lodged within his ribs the entire duration. He handed it to the Gekko before he commanded it to find a space in the control panel to plug it into.

3%...

"It's bound...to link into the capital's AI, right...?" He breathed out.

2%...

The Gekko took the small black device in hand and hopped over to the control panel, searching. Exhausted, Raiden lay in his spot, struggling to keep awake.

1%...

"Hurry..." He grunted, as the Gekko searched.

0%

His screen went blank. It was darkness all over. The Gekko began emitting some strange shrieking noises and suddenly the entire room collapsed into darkness and the furnace went to a close with a deflated hiss...then the room went back into life, the lights snapping on. However, the furnace had stopped, apparently no longer working. The room had been bathed in a sharp red light and was now been replaced with a blue glow.

1%...

His vision returned, flickering back into life. With a sharp groan, Raiden blinked several times to adjust his eye; he wasn't sure what had just happened but he felt the Gekko grab his hand and drag him over to one side. The cable was pulled from his neck and the Gekko plugged it into the control panel.

2%...

He'd been saved.

_And now I'm charging like a piece of machinery_, he thought to himself as the Dwarf pointed to the control panel where he could see the FOXALIVE prototype sticking out of a slot before it started to clap. "...You did it..."

"Need a helping hand?"

"...Huh?" Raiden blinked, glancing around. He saw no-one. The enemy cyborg was still out cold.

"Hold on a second, I'll be right with ya." said the disembodied voice.

"Who said that? Who are you?"

"What? You don't recognize my voice? That hurts, Raiden!"

His eyes widened as he contemplated. _Wait a second... _"Sunny?"

"Yes, it's me." The voice chuckled.

"What are you doing here? Where are you? I can't see you." He said, a little desperately, "I can...only hear you." Throwing his glance to the device sticking out of the control panel, he did a double take. It wasn't because of the prototype, was it? Now that he thought about it, maybe it had worked. "Is it FOXALIVE? Are you...the FOXALIVE AI?"

"Yep." came Sunny's cheerful voice, "And because of you, I've successfully taken over the capital's AI. Now let's get out of here!"


	28. Chapter 28

**BATTLE FOR HUMANITY, PART TWO**

"Sunny, they'll notice. Someone should be coming. The Raiden-II."

"We better hurry then."

"Wait a second, if FOXALIVE has hijacked the capital's AI...then we've gained control of their AI. We could use it to stop the cyborgs."

"Hmm, if that's the case, then Harrie should be around here somewhere too." Sunny replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Harrie had the chip stuck on her neck, right? You should be able to locate and download the data that had been stolen and install it into you."

He was downright confused but knew she was correct. How would they specifically find Harrie's stolen knowledge amongst the rest of the AI? As he steadily charged, he managed to sit up in his spot, leaning against the control panel with heavy breaths. "What good will it do anyway?"

"We should at least get it back, and we'll need to rebuild your body either way."

"W-what?! How will I be able to rebuild my body?"

"I can help you with that." Sunny said, and suddenly the Gekko sprang into motion, hopping over to the table and lifting off his parts which had appeared to have been scattered over the worktop surface. "Come on, little guys, let's go. I think we might be able to piece you back together – or you might have to undergo a full cyborg body conversion."

"What!?" He spluttered.

"We need a body without a head – to fit yours on."

"Will...will I survive?"

"Of course! We're just going to transfer you to a new body, that's all. And it's not the first time you've underwent a procedure like this one. Let's get to work, everyone!"

He really wasn't sure, and he watched as the carts began to shake and then several Dwarf Gekkos began to climb out, some with only one limb and they started rolling towards him. The ones on the table also jittered into action, rolling off the surface and onto the floor. The Dwarf by his side grabbed his arm whilst the rest of the Dwarves went up to him and began hoisting him up. The little guys were carrying him somewhere. Glancing around, he still could not see Sunny within the vicinity at all.

"Quick, give me the cable and attach it to that guy." She said.

"That cyborg over there?"

"Yeah, let's transfer my conscious into him."

"O-okay." He said, and the Gekkos took the cable and took it out of the control panel and connected it to the cyborg's neck.

He glanced wide-eyed as the cyborg began to get up, shaking his head. Turning to Raiden, his mouth moved and – "Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. This'll do for now."

"Sunny...?"

"Yeah, it's me. I just needed a body to borrow." The cyborg, now with Sunny's consciousness, began to collect the rest of Raiden's pieces off the table.

"How long will this take...?"

"Hm, if we're quick enough then you'll be back to normal in no time."

Raiden groaned as the Dwarf Gekkos carried him out of the room. "Sunny, I need to get back to Harrie as quickly as possible."

"Don't worry," Sunny said, "Leave it all to me!"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

It was Sam versus Tetsuo.

Both men stood facing opposite each other, having chosen a quieter area far from the battleground for their battle where they would not be disturbed.

"I remember you." said Tetsuo, flexing his fingers as they wavered closer to the handle of his glaive, "You were there in Salt Lake City, aiding Raiden."

"And I remember you." Sam replied, "We never finished our battle."

Tetuo's eyes narrowed as his visor lowered to cover his nose and mouth whilst Sam grabbed his blade, holding it in front of him. They were still, eyeing each other warily to anticipate who would perform the first move. However, both decided to move at the same time, dashing towards each other with ferocious speed. With a cry, Sam's blade collided with Tetsuo's glaive, metal striking against metal. There was a flash of red and silver respectively and both retaliated with equally matched, violent blows.

Sam leapt away to avoid Tetsuo's range; with the glaive he was able to cover more ground. He flipped backwards to avoid an attack and Tetsuo went charging towards him - Sam did the same – both clashed together so hard they both were sent flying backwards from the impact although Sam had taken the brunt of the attack due to Tetsuo's exoskeleton and cyborg enhancements. Tetsuo went skidding on the back of his heels, slamming his claws into the ground to regain his balance; Sam went stumbling, rolling back up to stand.

Stunned for a brief moment, Tetsuo shook his head to readjust his senses only for Sam to come counterattacking with a swift uppercut of his blade. Tetsuo grunted, flipping to the side to avoid the attack. With a blade, Sam's attacks were quicker and easier to control whilst Tetsuo's selection of weapon, despite giving him long range and several advantages, was slow to retreat at some points.

Tetsuo came at him relentless; forcing him backwards and Sam's back found the railing of a steel catwalk; underneath the metal bridge and it appeared to be a dark abyss leading to god-knows-where. A fall would kill him. The cyborg was advancing and he retreated backwards and onto the rickety catwalk. Tetsuo brought the glaive crashing down, smashing against Sam's blade and countering all his blows; as though possessed with the raw instinct to destroy, Tetsuo's blows were becoming more and more aggressive than the last and Sam soon found himself on one knee, holding his blade with two hands to block his persistent attacks.

Tetsuo swung his glaive high and proceeded to hammer away at Sam, who had no choice but to defend the entire time. His leg giving under; he abandoned his spot and rolled backwards, evading the attack by diving to the left and Tetsuo's glaive slammed into the metal mesh of the catwalk, slashing through and creating a gaping hole. Ripping the weapon out of the destroyed bridge, the cyborg came at him with another roar; Sam ducked again and the glaive slammed against the bridge's chain instead, causing the catwalk to tremble violently before it tipped to one side. Both men were briefly throwing off their feet before tumbling over the railings.

Sam grabbed on for his life with one hand on the railing whilst the other gripped his sword handle tightly, staring down at the darkness below, eyes wide as dust fell off and disappeared into the gloom. Not too far away, Tetsuo was also holding on and both glanced at each other before the cyborg ultimately frowned.

He narrowly evaded Tetsuo's powerful kick aimed at him. Was this cyborg serious? Fighting to the death whilst hanging off a bridge? Sam avoided the attack by swinging his body to the left, causing the bridge to creak loudly, probably from Tetsuo's weight. Tetsuo aimed another powerful kick at his direction, this time to the right. Sam avoided yet again by quickly climbing a few rungs away although his palms were beginning to get sweaty. The glaive came next; Sam had no choice but to bat him away with his one hand holding his sword and kicked at him in the stomach. Unfazed, Tetsuo came at him from all sorts of direction and Sam continued dodging the best he could, the bridge creaking under their weights and the pressure from their actions were beginning to make them fall lower and lower.

"At this rate we'll both fall..." Sam muttered, but no sooner had Tetsuo started, he too, began to reach up to return to the bridge properly, hoisting his legs up and finally managing to loop his foot through one hold. Holding his blade using his mouth, Sam grunted as he finally landed back onto the catwalk and was shortly followed by Tetsuo who was now readying himself back into an offensive stance.

With a fierce cry, Tetsuo dashed towards him and the glaive went swinging; no longer did the cyborg seem interested in technique or finesse, all he was interested in was defeating Sam at any cost – he was whaling blows on him and Sam was also either countering or attacking.

Eventually, they came a stop, standing and staring at each other with fierce frowns, blood gushing from multiple flesh wounds. Sam grunted; he leapt off his spot on the bridge; Tetsuo did the same. Both men passed each other, their weapons in hand. There was the sound of blades clashing and there was the briefest flash of silver. Sam's arm went flying, having been caught in Tetsuo's attack.

Tetsuo landed a distance away and Sam landed behind him with his blade facing downwards; he was panting laboriously before emitting a bloodcurdling yell as blood gushed from his severe wound. The blade dropped out of his hand and he soon coughed up some blood, the red liquid spilling all over the ground beneath him. With a yell, he stood up, clutching the stump of his missing arm.

Tetsuo remained in his low crouch, one knee on the floor before turning round to face him; his visor was bloodstained and broken - he ripped it off his face, throwing it away, revealing a massive gash and exposing a glowing red eye and metal skeleton – Sam had cut into his chest and all the way up to his shoulder, his neck and half of his face.

"You...you are not human." Sam growled.

"I have never been one of you." Tetsuo replied, "Which is why you will not win this fight. I am better."

"I can still fight." With only one arm, Sam swung his blade, blood flying off the steel and to the ground. With a fierce cry, he came charging at Tetsuo, leaking fresh blood all over the floor.

"I will destroy you!" Tetsuo snarled, before he too, rushed towards Sam.

Both men yelled loudly, as they passed each once more on the bridge. Sam brought his blade high and Tetsuo brought his glaive low; that was how he managed to cut off his arm. He would not let the same thing happen again – but he needed to find an opening. It would have to be when Tetsuo was close enough to him despite the risk – but it would be a wrong move for certain if he was too slow as he would definitely lose in this case – with little choice, Sam let out a fierce yell and with a twist of his body, he missed the glaive that had been aiming for his chest; at the same time, having come close enough to his powerful adversary, Sam rammed his sword into Tetsuo's chin with as much strength as he could, watching the blade pierce his throat before bursting out of the top of his head. He used so much strength that he'd tackled the cyborg, sending them flying to the ground.

They landed with a 'thump' and there was something wet trickling over his hand relentlessly but he did not dare let go; Tetsuo could be heard choking and rasping and finally, Sam looked up to see the cyborg gazing at him widened eyes, blood spewing forth from his wound.

"H...how..."

Sam pulled the blade out of Tetsuo's head and raised it high.

"No - " Tetsuo choked out, briefly before Sam brought his sword down and his head went clean off his shoulders.

...

Meanwhile, Harrie quickly slipped out of the cockpit, having finally defeated the RAY with Bladepuppy's help.

"This is good; we can use him." She muttered to herself.

"Master, we must hurry."

She nodded, clambering over the downed RAY's leg and scurrying to one leg. "Puppy, keep an eye out for me, will you?" She said, and with an acknowledgement of her command, he leapt atop the RAY, scanning the perimeter. She wrenched open the panel to reveal the controls and as she tampered with them, she turned when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Her eyes widened in astonishment at the figure who had appeared before her.

"Harrie." He said.

"Raiden?!" She exclaimed, briefly stepping away from the panel. She was confused by his sudden appearance as she glanced at him in shock, she noticed that amongst the blood and death, he was completely unscathed, "What are you – "

She was interrupted when he rammed his blade into her chest.

Bladepuppy yelped as he witnessed what had just happened. "Master!" He leapt down from the RAY as Raiden pulled the blade out of her and Harrie dropped to her knees, clutching at her chest with one hand, blood spewing from her mouth.

"...Raiden?" She croaked, as Bladepuppy pounced on him, snarling. She crumpled to the ground, staring wide-eyed as she proceeded to witness Raiden overpowering the UG in a matter of seconds and abruptly slicing him into pieces; the amount of slashes was countless, his sword a blur of silver.

Zandatsu.

"Puppy..." Harrie choked out as the UG dropped to the ground in pieces; she lifted herself off the ground as Raiden approached her again; no, this was not Raiden. It couldn't be. It was then she noticed strange words stamped on his chest. Her eyes widened promptly as she met his gaze. "You're...Mark two?"

...

"Raiden, stop sleeping, we're almost there!"

He opened his eyes and found himself completely rebuilt and fixed to what appeared to be a plane. He would remember the last time this sort of thing happened, he had been deposited on the shore of Sukhimi, the capital city of Abkhazia. That had happened a long time ago, and he wondered if he was ready to for another _insertion_ like this one.

"Sunny?!" He exclaimed, glancing to his left and right; he was strapped to the plane's underbelly by the metal loop over his chest and legs; to his amazement, he appeared to have a new cyborg body, "You did all this?"

"Sure did." said Sunny's voice over the intercom, "Isn't this great?"

"Are we near the Resistance?"

"We'll be there in approximately twenty seconds!"

"How long has passed?"

"Just a couple of minutes."

The fact that it had only been a couple of minutes stunned him a great deal. "Sunny...thank you."

She giggled. "You're welcome, Raiden. Just to let you know, I've given you a stronger version of FOXALIVE and slipped it through one of your ribs. I copied the virus over to another device which you need to plug it into the Mark Two."

"How will I do that?"

"You know that cable at the back of your neck?"

"Yeah?"

"Just take it off and jam it in."

She made it sound so easy. "Right, okay, so I need to find some kind of opening to do that. Why is this important?"

"Because it'll destroy him from within. It started with him; it will end with him, too."

"Can't we just lob off his head?"

"Do me a favor and plug it in, alright?"

"Alright, alright...By the way... Sunny, am I the one responsible for all this...considering he's my clone?"

"Of course not. Now, are you ready? Insertion in three...two..."

"Sunny, wait!"

"_One!_"

He cried out as two doors beneath him opened; immediately the atmosphere went cold and frosty from the air outside and then the metal loops holding him up vanished; he went hurtling out of the plane and into the sky, the chilly air and frigid wind biting at him from all sorts of directions; the plane carrying him continued to fly overhead, zooming away in the distance. He could no longer hear Sunny's voice. It would've been nice if Sunny had given him a few more pointers about what was going on but at the moment, he was flailing in the air. This time the insertion was slightly messy; he hastily maneuvered himself into the right position, keeping his body flat and rigid as possible, arms flat against his side, and he saw a gaping crater in the ground where the Resistance appeared to be.

He could see cyborgs within the distance; he would deal with them later considering he still had the FOXALIVE prototype fed into the capital's system. It would destroy them from within; at least Sunny was still there, working her magic. As he zoomed in closer, he readied himself for impact – even though Sunny had rebuilt his body in that short amount of time, he wondered how strong it was. She had even given him a new HF blade that was strapped to his back. As he neared and neared, he saw UGs and humans alike – despite the Resistance behind underground, it seemed the cyborgs had torn through the ground completely, exposing them. Raiden spotted a familiar figure within the chaos down below – it was Mark Two, a ghostly silvery white specter amongst the darkness – and there was Harrie before him, clutching a fresh, bleeding wound – Raiden veered towards their direction in an effort to stop him.

_Get away from her!_ He thought with a growl, and once he was close enough –

Raiden-II turned round and grabbed him.

Raiden's eyes widened thoroughly. _How could he know!?_ Raiden ended up smashing into the cyborg regardless and they both went flying from Harrie, ploughing through the ground at least twenty feet away before coming to a grinding stop. It was a miracle they didn't explode upon impact.

Grunting, once Raiden-II regained his composure, he kicked him off and stood wobbly, growling. "Raiden."

"You won't get rid of me that easily." Raiden snarled in response, whilst Harrie stared at the two in shock.

The clone said with a frown, "It seems that if one wants something to be done – " He grabbed his intact blade and held it in front of him, "One must do it themselves."

Raiden pulled his HF blade out and held it firmly in hands. "Let's end this once and for all." He said, "I am Lightning, the rain transformed."

...


	29. Chapter 29

Has anyone read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code? There's some car chase/vespa chase that took like 10 chapters. I decided to be a good person and just cram everything into 2. This is the last chapter. I decided to update because...well, I've finished typing it, so might just post it up. Oh lord...There is so much drama.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>EPILOGUE<strong>

_HEROES_

Harrie didn't understand; how could there be two Raiden's? She knew one was the Mark Two, and the other was the Raiden she found and knew, the one she had been travelling with the entire time. Her Raiden. Did that mean it wasn't Raiden whom her parents were talking about, after all? Was it Mark Two on the picture all along? But they mentioned hope and mankind...

Her thoughts vanished when she watched the battle; Raiden had come back. He had come back for them... there he was, clashing with Mark Two repeatedly, both were too evenly matched. She glanced helplessly around herself, to Bladepuppy who'd been sliced into pieces beforehand. Then she threw her gaze to her chest; the bleeding was not stopping and she found her vision growing hazy.

_No...no, can't pass out, not yet..._

She spotted something poking out of the debris before crawling out of it and lifting it up.

_Looks like the FOXALIVE prototype that was given to Raiden_, she thought, pocketing the device carefully. _He'll probably need this..._

...

This was it.

This would be the final battle.

He would be battling against himself and this time, he knew he had to be the victor. He allowed himself to experience Zandatsu once. Never again.

Raiden went clashing with Raiden-II, their blades slamming against one another. It wasn't enough; Raiden-II knew all his techniques and was well aware of his strength and what he was capable of. He needed a new tactic. They clashed relentlessly; no-one else was able to join in the fight due to their own battles. He had to buy enough time for the FOXALIVE to shut down everything in the capital's system.

_But this is as much as I know about fighting; I can't just make something up!_ He thought,_ Or can I?_

Raiden-II anticipated all his moves, blocking all his attempts. With each counterattack, Raiden-II delivered a kick to his stomach and he went stumbling backwards, stabbing his blade into the ground to stop himself from falling. When he looked back up, Raiden-II was rushing at him. He blocked using his blade, only for the strong assault to send him reeling once again.

_No use...need to try something new. He's too quick and he knows everything I know. What should I do in a situation like this?_

"Get up, Raiden." Mark Two snarled, jabbing his blade at his direction, "And fight me properly!"

"You want a fight? You got one." He barked.

They came at each other again. Raiden-II would counter him, as predicted. Raiden decided to try a new tactic – _here goes nothing_ – he swung his blade high; as he expected, Raiden-II would maneuver the blade in his hand to the left in order to block him. Raiden quickly shifted his position, aiming to the right, aiming low and slamming the hilt of his blade into his gut. Having not anticipated this, Raiden-II briefly widened his eyes in astonishment as he stumbled.

"...That was a dirty trick." Raiden-II growled.

"It's called improvisation." Raiden retorted.

Raiden-II came at him again, eyes blazing with fury. He had to think quickly on the spot, finding the slightest of opportunities and openings and landing blows on his clone. Enraged, Raiden-II let out a roar of anger and lunged himself at Raiden. He continued his tactics until he sensed Raiden-II's increasing rage. They slammed their blades against one another so hard the swords went spinning out of their hands and onto the ground somewhere a distant away. Harrie ducked away safely, avoiding the swords.

Resorting to their fists only, Raiden delivered a swift uppercut to Raiden-II's jaws; his clone caught his swinging fist in the nick of time and began to twist his arm backwards. Emitting a cry, Raiden retaliated with a hefty kick to his knee. Raiden-II dodged, stepping backwards before shoving his shin into his gut. Raiden grunted and readied his other, clenched fist towards the clone's side. Before Raiden-II attempted to dodge, he wound his leg around the back of his knee, trapping his adversary in place. The blow collided with his side and the clone snarled in fury. Caught in each other's iron grips, they struggled on the spot, teetering backwards and forwards before they both slammed their foreheads together vigorously in a vicious headbutt, over and over again. They both went staggering, letting go of each other as the impact of their heads colliding was enough to make them both see stars.

Raiden was then lifted by the waist; before he could even anticipate what was happening, he was brought over Raiden-II's bent knee and he felt his armor crack from the sheer blow. He grunted out as he was tossed a distance away. Just as Raiden regained his senses, he saw the clone lunge at him; a punch to his jaw sent him flying and his back made contact with a brick wall; it crumbled from the impact and he fell to the other side, landing into a large circular space with a single catwalk that appeared to be half-broken. Underneath and it appeared to be a dark, endless abyss. He went sliding, tumbling to the edge but just managing to hold on with one clawed hand. His legs kicking, Raiden stared into the emptiness below then tried to climb up to safety, grappling at the railing.

Raiden-II arrived, landing on the catwalk that it shook upon his entry. It shuddered, the bridge trembling violently, the hinges emitting a low creak. Raiden looked up as he clung onto the bridge – only for Raiden-II to step over his clawed hand. He felt no pain but his immense weight and brute strength was crushing his fingers. If this kept up he would lose grip and fall. Raiden grunted as the clone loomed over him with a wide smirk on his face.

"You cannot hope to defeat me." Raiden-II snarled as he stamped on his hand, "You're one hundred years too late. Out with the old, in with the new."

"Nnngh!" Raiden grunted, struggling to keep his grip. His legs dangled, trying to find some form of foothold.

"Die, Raiden. You don't belong here any - "

From behind, a figure slammed the FOXALIVE device into the back of his neck and the clone roared in agony; the device must be working for almost at once, his body jerked uncontrollably, little crackles of electricity could be seen surging throughout and his clear blue eyes began to vanish - his pupils dilating and the blue shade turning lighter and lighter until his eyes were white. Turning around blindly, he batted Harrie away and she went sailing off the catwalk with a squeak; Raiden let go using one hand and caught her by the waist.

"Raiden!" She exclaimed breathlessly; she couldn't help herself, she grinned widely and threw her arms around him.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"But you're bleeding..."

"Just a flesh wound."

He quickly hoisted her up and onto the catwalk to safety and she clung on whilst the clone before them roared and clawed at his face, his mouth agape. His eyes had turned completely white but numerous little black veins could be seen creeping from the edges of his eyes and seeping closer and closer to the middle of his eyes like ink.

"What's going on?" Raiden asked as Harrie tried to help him up.

"The FOXALIVE is wiping him out; it will take over all his nanomachines, shut down all his functions and eliminate every shred of his consciousness. He's being completely destroyed from within."

To see a clone of himself undergoing such intense agony was a little unsettling; Harrie lifted Raiden onto the metal bridge and as the clone howled and raged, he suddenly stilled and his body went rigid. He ceased his cries of pain all over and the tunnel went silent. The Raiden-II, stiff and unmoving, dropped over the catwalk in a heap.

Raiden and Harrie stared at his form, wide-eyed. "Is it...over?"

"Not sure." He murmured, "Let's go."

She nodded, made a move forwards and then –

The Mark-II sprang back up with a snarl, grabbing Raiden from behind. Immediately, he began flailing to get the clone off him.

"Raiden!" Harrie yelled, as the bridge rocked viciously from their struggle.

"Don't come any closer!" Raiden growled, trying to throw the Mark-II off him.

Harrie watched helplessly as he attempted to free himself; wriggling and writhing furiously in his grip before they both ultimately tumbled over the railing and began to fall backwards - and the bridge, having been put under constant strain to keep up with the weight of both cyborgs – finally broke apart from one end, the hinges popping off loudly. The bridge went down to an awkward, diagonal angle but was still being held up in mid-air by one still-functioning hinge. Harrie only had one moment to throw herself at Raiden and she grabbed onto his hand. Raiden-II could be seen falling, tumbling down the abyss, his body flimsy like a ragdoll as he vanished into the darkness below. The bridge went to a jarring halt – Raiden and Harrie went sliding down further and further the bridge until Raiden too, was dangling over the edge once again. The last hinge which was still keeping it hoisted up was definitely about to give way.

"Raiden!" Harrie screamed, careful not to upset the balance of the bridge by any sudden movements and she squeezed his intact hand thoroughly whilst her other hand grabbed hold of one of the railings. She gasped as she held his hand firmly, throwing her gaze over her shoulder at the last hinge of the bridge which would be due to come apart very soon. "I got you." She said breathlessly, "Just...just hold on...nghhh...!" The wound on her chest was hurting and she struggled to lift him back up. "Give me your other hand!"

"You can't; you'll fall!"

"Just give me your other hand!"

He lifted his mangled hand in an attempt to meet her other one. Slowly, she let go of the railing and tried to quickly catch his hand – at the same time she slid closer and closer to the edge. They missed; their hands were too far away. Harrie grabbed onto the railing again, panting heavily.

They had to find another way – and Raiden attempted to find some footing, swinging back and forth in an effort to reach one rung of the banister but this only caused Harrie to be dragged further with him and the bridge to creak even further, threatening both their lives. He stopped immediately, letting himself dangle in mid-air.

"Harrie?"

"I won't...won't let go..." She grunted, struggling. The bridge continued to creak louder and louder as she clung onto him, beads of sweat dripping dotting her forehead as she vainly tried to hoist him up.

He threw his gaze to the darkness below them, then slid his gaze up to her. "Harrie." He murmured, "It's me; I'm the one who's causing this; the bridge will fall if I'm on it. I'm too heavy. You have to let go."

She shook her head vigorously, squeezing her eyes shut. "No!" She screamed, "Are you crazy?! I won't let you fall!"

"You have to let go or else we'll both fall!"

"Then so be it!"

"Harrie!" He yelled, eyebrows furrowing with a mixture of anger and exasperation.

She opened her eyes; thick tears rolling down her cheeks. "No." She whispered, and he stared into her eyes, seeing his pallid reflection within. "...No, Raiden, I won't let go."

"Harrie, you have to let go!"

She ignored his pleas. "Don't let go...whatever you do, _don't let go_!" The bridge went lower and lower, struggling from Raiden's weight; Harrie let out a cry as his grip began to loosen despite her attempt to renew her hold on him. One metal finger slipped out of her grip, then another. She gasped and clung onto him desperately. "I can't let you leave my side again." She cried, weeping profusely. "I won't let it happen again...please, don't do this!"

"Harrie..."

She was sobbing loudly, shaking her head to and fro. "I can't lose you again!"

"You won't."

"Yes, I will! The one left behind will always suffer!"

"Harrie, you need to let go."

"No! Don't make me do this...!"

His expression softened, "...You're the one who kept me going, Harrie." He murmured, "It was you."

And then his hand left hers, their hands slipping out of each others like water. One moment, she was still holding onto him and the next he was gone and her hand was empty.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she watched him plunge into the darkness, engulfed by the abyss.

...

Harrie got off the bed.

She was being led by Sasaki out of the infirmary and into the great hall where she could see everyone celebrating. A restored Bladepuppy was trailing by her side.

It had been a month since the ordeal.

They'd won.

After Raiden-II was destroyed by the FOXALIVE, all the cyborgs and UGs suddenly stopped functioning and slowly, the humans began take over again. Those who died and those who contributed to the battle were honored, but it had been a month and people were still celebrating. It seemed like they would be celebrating for a long time; maybe they would never stop. Harrie was probably the only one who didn't join in due to the loss.

She'd lost Raiden.

Again.

"What are you trying to show me?" She mumbled out morosely, as Sasaki led her to the middle of the hall where she could see Cain, Ivy, Sam and Mercedes. Cain was in crutches, and despite losing one arm, Sam appeared content with Mercedes at his side. She'd been tending to his injuries and they'd grown quite close; Harrie had the feeling that Sam had found his calling and that they would try to start a life together. Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd went quiet and stood in a circle around them.

Cain cleared his throat and limped towards her. There was a large, unknown object standing tall behind him covered by a white sheet, at least ten foot high. "Harrie, we have prepared something for you."

Turning to Sam, he nodded. The Brazilian then proceeded to pull away the white sheet to reveal a metal statue of two figures – she recognized it to be of herself and Raiden, and her eyes widened. The statue was so intricately detailed and she wondered who had put so much effort into recreating their likeness; the statue of her appeared to possess a distressed expression on her face, having been carved at the bottom with her hand outstretched and reaching for Raiden, who was carved at the very top. He was reaching for her too, but their hands did not meet. Symbolic. Harrie emitted a quiet sigh.

Following the grand unveiling, the hall erupted into applause and cheers.

"You are heroes, so this is our gratitude." Cain said, "And this is how we will remember you. Our sons and daughters will remember his Great Sacrifice and that if you weren't here, then we never would have lived to see this day."

"Thank you, Cain." She muttered, gazing at their statue forlornly. They didn't seem to realize how despondent she was with his absence and as they described it, his sacrifice.

With that, the celebrations continued. Harrie would quietly leave with Bladepuppy, unseen.

And no-one would know where she had gone.

* * *

><p>The first animal she saw was what they called a mouse, and she saw one poking its head out of inches of snow, whiskers furrowing, before it scampered across the frozen landscape with a sort of daintiness that was exclusive to a tiny creature as such, darting around as though the storm didn't bother it.<p>

She watched, following its movements with her binoculars before lowering them as soon as she picked up something else through the lens. There was something buried in the snow and she squinted her eyes at the figure in the horizon.

A man.

With Bladepuppy at her side, she hurried across the white barren landscape, wading through knee-high snow. She'd been searching for five years now. Five years and counting. Ever since she left the Resistance, she only had one goal in mind. Many people she came across during her travels seemed to know who she was and wished her luck. Some called her crazy and insane because they kept telling her that he was dead, that he was gone, and they told her to give up and to settle down and have a family but she never did, and she never stopped searching.

Travelling across the earth with only Bladepuppy as her only companion...she lived a lonely life; now that the world was free of cyborgs and UGs, civilization began to flourish. Although the earth's surface was still less than hospitable and there weren't many humans left, small towns and cities began to appear where she would replenish her supplies. Carcasses of cyborgs and UGs would paint the horizon every now and then to remind them of their once macabre situation, but generally, the threat was over. Animals began to appear albeit in small numbers, such as the mouse, and one night during her travels, she also thought she saw a creature in the air with wings. Bladepuppy told her it was a bird, flying south for the winter.

The earth was changing.

Although Raiden had been lost amongst the chaos during the battle, she knew that one day, she would find him. And when she finally arrived at the unconscious figure's side, she dropped to her knees beside him, lifted up her goggles and pulled away at her scarf. The temperature here in Africa was below freezing and here she was dressed in a thick duffle coat with massive gloves, boots and goggles. Puppy waded through the snow and came to a stop beside her.

"Master?" He said.

"We found him..." She said breathlessly, as the snow fell around them from all directions. The storm was getting worse; they would need to return to their shelter soon. "It's him...right?"

Bladepuppy commenced a full body scan, his red light flashing. "He is completely frozen solid. I do not detect any sign of life."

She went silent, then wiped away some snow from his face, stroking his cold cheeks as she gazed at him. His top lip was blue, stiff from the cold. His chin was still the magnificent metal that it was constructed of, albeit in terrible shape. His eyes were closed, his lashes long and dotted with frost and his face was an unhealthy shade of blue and as Bladepuppy had pointed out, he was indeed, frozen solid. She brushed away the snow from his chest, revealing a sheet of ice encasing his body. No 'Mark Two' could be seen on his chest, indicating his identity.

"It's really him," She murmured, "He looks exactly the same as the day when I lost him..."

"My theory is that after he fell, Master, it led him to the sea and the current carried him all the way here. A century ago, the continent of Africa was primarily consisting of deserts and its climate was arid."

"Do you think he was conscious during that time?"

"I believe that if he had been conscious...then he would have attempted to return to you, Master."

She nodded. "Of course."

"What do you propose we do, Master?"

"I finally found him." Harrie whispered; closing her eyes, a single tear dripped out from one corner and down her cheek. "We'll find him a good place to rest."

She lifted him by the feet and began to drag him through the snow; Bladepuppy helped, biting down on one hand and dragging the frozen cyborg with them. Once they arrived at the little hut where they were staying for the night, she propped him by the wall near the fire and Puppy stretched his paws, curling near the fire to warm up. A few hours passed; Harrie sat opposite him, staring at him keenly.

"Should we wake him up, Master?" Puppy asked, noticing that a puddle of water had begun to leak out from underneath him; the heat from the fire seemed to be thawing the cyborg.

"I...I don't know." She murmured in response. "No, I guess. Because...because I did it last time, and he was miserable because of me."

"But I thought the sole reason for our journey was to locate Raiden."

"Well, yes, but...now it won't seem right if we wake him up."

"Then shall we give him a burial?"

She nodded. "We'll do it tomorrow." Rising from her spot where she had been sitting on the floor, she strode to the door, grabbing her coat. "I'll get some more wood for the fire – "

Suddenly, she heard a barely audible groan behind her and she halted in her tracks, her hand poised on the handle of the door. Turning round slowly, she swerved her glance to the cyborg; Bladepuppy had also heard the noise and was watching his stirring form keenly, wagging his tail energetically.

Slowly, his eyelids opened, and she froze when light-gray eyes met her own.

"..._Har...rie_?"

His voicebox was still functioning. His memories were intact. She couldn't believe her eyes and ears and her breath caught in her throat, her hand trembling on the handle of the door. And for the first time in five years, Harrie smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>FINAL AUTHOR'S NOTE<strong>

Hmm, kinda of a Monsters Inc ending there lolz.

I won't write it, but basically after Raiden fell, he wound up in another continent (Africa) where the weather there is now constant raging snowstorms. Harrie spent the last 5 years searching for him; the Resistance dedicated a statue to them and called them heroes and humans began to rebuild their lives. Upon Raiden's awakening, he and Harrie would live happily together. He would also start to age; Sunny's FOXALIVE virus and the advanced technology changed his body to resemble more of a human being and the body he had actually enabled him to live a more human life. Despite some initial hardships because he was so used to battle and war, Raiden was able to live a peaceful, comfortable life with Harrie.

A big thanks to those who have been with this fic from humble beginnings all the way to the end and left nice reviews and constrictive feedback. No thanks to those who left behind shitty reviews with nothing constructive or anything good to say. Although I don't remember receiving much, it just ain't on. When you are an author, you will understand.

Anyway here are some final questions and answers:

**LE GASP YOU ACTUALLY WROTE A HAPPY ENDING.**

No it is not a happy ending. The earth is still suffering and they're currently going through an ice age just like how it did all those millions of yeas ago in order to reduce the earth's temperature due to global warming and mass production from the previous humans' exploits and then the earth will soon freeze over and will wipe out all life and then another bajillion years later humans will begin reappearing so the cycle continues...

...no, just kidding. Yes it was a good ending. I felt like being a good author for a change. Can't say the same for my other fics though.

**THEY NEVER KISSED/HUGGED/HAD BABIES. WHAT THE EFF JERALEE. I AM LIKE SO DISAPPOINTED.**

I preferred minimal amount of romance especially for a fic in Metal Gear category because it didn't feel right writing about Raiden getting it on with an OC and kissing and hugging or whatever even if Rose is pushing up daisies because it's just not in Raiden's nature but overall, I would say he and Harrie shared a tight bond and it doesn't need that, but at the end they do live together which he did not do with Rose.

**SO DOES RAIDEN STILL CARE ABOUT ROSE AND LITTLE JOHN?**

Yeah but he was able to accept that he no longer was with them but they would always be with him.

**SAM STOLE RAIDEN'S THUNDER**

That he did.

**SAM'S ARM GOT CUT OFF JUST LIKE HOW HE MET ARMSTRONG**

Yes there was a point to that. Poor Sam, even his clone suffered the same fate.

**DOES HE FIND OUT HE IS A CLONE**

That's up to your speculation.

**DOES HARRIE FIND OUT SHE IS AN ADVANCED HUMAN**

Possibly, but it doesn't make any difference to her existence.

**WHAT HAPPENED TO SUNNY**

She was only recreated from the FOXALIVE virus that wiped out the cyborgs. She then disappeared with it.

**WHAT WAS THE POINT IN TETSUO'S MEMORY WHEN HE WAS LOCKED UP**

Originally I had Tetsuo being Ivy's brother. After he became a cyborg they were on different sides. I decided to not bother and just had Tetsuo as being a plain and evil character who met his end by Sam's blade.

**END SONG:**

I never would have thought of an 'end song' but Silent Hill 2's _Theme of Laura_ is pretty boss and I think suits the ending of this fic very well.

Please also find the super awesome UltraVioletSoul's playlist *cough* essentially Heroes OST links here:

Part 1: 8tracks.c o m (slash) xraywhisky (slash) heroes-i

Part 2: /xraywhisky/heroes-ii

Part 3: /xraywhisky/heroes-iii

Part 4: www. /xraywhisky/heroes-iv

Part 5: (slash) xraywhisky (slash) heroes-v

Finale: 8tracks.c om (slash) xraywhisky (slash) heroes-vi-finale

Or you can have a look at UltraVioletSoul's youtube which is here: you tube (slash ) user (slash)XenaRamone(slash)playlists

**FANART:**

I got the cover from shellubla. Thank you so much my dear :)

Now I can concentrate on finishing my other fic. It's been real.


End file.
